Panama Scandal Not Sexy Enough for Peru’s Media

Farfán: in hot water… again

Time to bring you the latest scandal from Peru: last week, the Peruvian national team visited Panama and promptly lost 1-0 to the Isthmians.

But that’s not scandalous, considering the Peruvians have the weakest team in South America, finishing dead last in qualifying for South Africa 2010, with a -23 goal differential.

The night after the loss, with the Peruvian team still in Panama (how hard is it to get a flight out of there?), three players were reported to have left the team hotel to enjoy a night on the town with female escorts at a casino. The team had been under strict orders from coach Sergio “Mago” Markarián not to leave the hotel.

The players involved were Reimond Manco, John Galliquio, and Jefferson “La Foquita” Farfán, who’s been turning into quite the party animal lately. Markarián suspended the players indefinitely, vowing that “as long as I’m coach, they’ll never return [to the team].”

Farfán and Galliquio supposedly apologized to the coach in hopes of being reinstated in time for the Copa America in July. The loss of Farfán is a heavy blow to the team, raising questions about who could fill his shoes.

Now here’s the real scandal: apparently this story wasn’t juicy enough for the media in Peru.

A Panamanian journalist is reporting that a Peruvian journalist in Panama has been paying prostitutes to make false statements about the Peruvian players’ actions on the night in question.

According to the report, “We have testimony from two female companions who have told us that certain members of the press, having failed to find out anything about what happened with the suspended players, offered them money to lie about it.”

The director of the accused Peruvian TV news outlet is sticking to his story: “I emphatically deny that anyone has been paying witnesses, what we have discovered is far more serious than what is currently known, you’ll know everything this Sunday at 8 p.m.”

Is it sweeps week in Peru?

The truth surrounding the events probably lies somewhere in the middle, as usual. The players apparently did leave the team hotel against the coach’s orders, but the details of their exploits may be greatly exaggerated. The question remains whether they deserve to be permanently banned from the national team.