By Le Figaro with AFP
Posted
,
Update
U20 World Cup in Argentina. Federico Pestellini
A controversy erupted during the U20 World Cup which takes place in Argentina with the Iraqi selection.
The national team of Iraq under 20, involved in the World Cup in Argentina, denied on Saturday “risky accusationsrelating to an alleged ault in the hotel where his players were.
Several Argentinian media published on Friday, a bulletin from the police of La Plata (60 km from Buenos Aires) reporting the testimony of an employee of the restaurant of the hotel, affirming that members of the Iraqi delegation “touched an intimate part of his body“.
Charges denied late Saturday evening by the management of the team
According to the same source, the person in charge of the reception of the hotel, heard by an Argentine policeman, for his part, testified that members of the Iraqi team who “wandered around the halls of the hotel in their underwear, deliberately activated the fire alarm system“.
A security officer of the establishment, still quoted in the report, indicated that members of the delegation “mistreated a performer“local, and have”disabled a hotel elevator, using it overloaded“.
Charges denied late Saturday evening by the management of the team, in a video posted on the social networks of the Iraqi football federation. “Unfortunately, the accusations are thrown in a haphazard way against the selection, concerning a case of harment“Reacted the administrative director of the Iraqi team under 20, Nadim Karim. “I have been accompanying the delegation for two years, we have participated in training (…) in Antalya or in Spain“, he continued, specifying that “despite the freedoms» offered by these places, «we have never faced such accusations“.
The manager accused “hotel administration“to be at the origin of these accusations”in response to our insistence on changing hotels»
“If such a shameful act had really been carried out“, he pointed out in reference to the accusations of ault, “a video would have circulated around the world“. “We are in 2023, everywhere in the streets and in the hotels, there are surveillance cameras“, he added.
The manager accused “hotel administration“to be at the origin of these accusations”in response to our insistence on changing hotels», the establishment being according to him «deprived of the most basic necessities“, having no sports hall and being located far from the training stadiums.
The Under-20 World Cup brings together 24 selections until June 11. Initially planned in Indonesia, it was relocated to Argentina last month by the International Football Federation (Fifa), which decided to withdraw the organization from Indonesia following the refusal of two provincial governors to host the team. ‘Israel.