Mexico have banned Carlos Vela and Efrain Juarez for six months for their part in a late-night party that followed a friendly against Colombia earlier this month, the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) said.
"(Vela and Juarez) will be suspended for six months... due to breaking four articles of the internal regulations of the national team," Nestor de la Torre, FMF national teams' director, told a news conference.
He said another 11 players, including Vela's fellow forwards Javier Hernandez and Giovani dos Santos and experienced defender Rafael Marquez, will be fined following the party that took place after the match with Colombia in Monterrey on September 7.
De la Torre said the players had, among other things, failed to observe good discipline and receive visitors only at specified hours and within designated areas.
The 50,000 pesos (US$3,900) to be paid by each of the fined players would be donated to a charity in Ciudad Juarez, a city plagued by drugs-related violence where Mexico will play their next friendly against Venezuela on October 12, or the Karl hurricane-hit Mexican Gulf port city of Veracruz.
“Mistakes committed”
The other fined players were goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, defenders Francisco Rodriguez, Carlos Salcido and Hector Moreno, midfielders Andres Guardado, Gerardo Torrado, and Pablo Barrera and forward Enrique Esqueda.
"We talked to most of them and there was total acceptance (of the punishments)," de la Torre said. "There were mistakes committed.”
“The first step to be able to move forward is to recognize when one has made mistakes."
The party at the players' hotel followed Mexico's first victory in three friendlies since the World Cup in South Africa where they reached the second round in June.
They beat Colombia 1-0 after a 1-1 draw with world champions Spain in Mexico City and a 2-1 defeat by Ecuador in Guadalajara.
De la Torre denied local media reports that a number of prostitutes had been invited to the party.
"Those are rumors, there were guests, relatives and friends,” De la Torre said. “We're talking about facts, not suppositions, and being realistic there were only relatives and friends.”
