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Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images
Peru captain Guerrero.
Peru captain Paolo Guerrero is to miss the World Cup because of a positive doping test caused by contaminated tea.
This because the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday upheld an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency to extend Guerrero’s six-month FIFA ban, which already expired this month.
Guerrero will now be banned for 14 months – an “appropriate sanction … in light of Mr. Guerrero’s degree of fault” – until January, the court said in a statement.
The 34-year-old Guerrero was to captain Peru in Russia at its first World Cup appearance since 1982 after being named in his country’s provisional squad preparing to play France, Denmark and Australia.
Guerrero tested positive for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, at a World Cup qualifying game against Argentina in October. Anti-doping rules prohibit the use of cocaine in an athlete’s competition period though not out of competition
His lawyers argued the stimulant had not been performance enhancing, and was accidentally consumed in contaminated tea.
FIFA initially suspended Guerrero for one year through Nov. 3. It reduced the ban in a fast-tracked appeal last December which clearing him to play at the World Cup.
It is the second ruling from sport’s highest court that has weighed heavily on Peru’s first World Cup appearance in 36 years.
CAS gifted Peru three points that were key to advancing from the South American qualifying group in a previous appeal case brought by Bolivia’s soccer federation.
Bolivia fielded an ineligible player in a 2-0 win over Peru, and that result was overturned to a 3-0 loss by default. Without the three extra points, Peru would have fallen below Chile and Paraguay in the standings and out of contention.
