Football / World Cup USA '94: Player fails drug test

AN unnamed player has tested positive for drugs and is awaiting the result of analysis of a second part of the urine sample.

Guido Tognoni, spokesman for world football's governing body, Fifa, said yesterday the result of the second test would be known later today. Tognoni said Fifa could not reveal the player's name or his nationality until testing had been completed.

Under Fifa regulations, two players are randomly selected from each team after each match and are required to give a urine sample, which is divided into two. The second half of the sample is analysed only if the first half shows up positive.

There have been only two known cases of players being thrown out of the World Cup finals for using drugs. The Haitian defender Ernest Jean-Joseph failed a test in Germany in 1974. His team manager refused to send him home and he had to be extradited by security men sent from Haiti. During the 1978 finals in Argentina, Willie Johnston of Scotland was banned for taking an illegal drug for medicinal purposes and sent home.

Ioan Vladoiu, the Romanian striker who was sent off for fouling a Swiss opponent just four minutes after coming on as a substitute in a group match last week Wednesday, has been sent home to Bucharest for further misconduct.

Vladoiu becomes the second player to be ejected from the tournament, a day after Effenberg was removed from the German camp after making an obscene gesture at the crowd during his side's game against South Korea.

The Romanian football association president, Mircea Sandu, said: 'The decision was taken late on Tuesday after Vladoiu became involved in a row with the assistant coach, Dumitri Dumitreau, on the bus coming back from a training session the previous day.'