PETALING JAYA: Mixed heritage football player Rodrigo Holgado has arrived in Kuala Lumpur to help resolve the documentation issue while Imanol Machuca continues to miss matches with his club Velez Sarsfield.
Holgado and Machuca are two of the seven players handed a one-year ban by FIFA over alleged documentation irregularities linked to their participation in Malaysia’s Asian Cup qualifier against Vietnam in June.
The others are Facundo Garces, Jon Irazabal, Hector Hevel, Joao Figueiredo and Gabriel Palmero.
FIFA had also fined the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) 350,000 Swiss francs (RM1.8mil) for the same offence last Friday.
According to Colombian media, it is learnt that the 30-year-old Holgado, who is the America de Cali forward, travelled with his agent to meet FAM officials and assist in the appeal process.
Representatives from the national team and FAM, however, did not want to comment on Argentinian Holgado’s arrival.
Meanwhile, Velez Sarsfield coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto admitted that the suspension of Machuca had come as a complete shock to the club, describing it as a ‘‘situation no one saw coming.’’
Speaking to the Argentine media, Schelotto said the news caught everyone off guard — including the player himself.
“Machuca’s situation surprised us; no one knew it, no one expected it, not even the player himself,” said the coach.
“We hope it’s resolved soon. He has the opportunity to appeal over the next five days, so hopefully it can be clarified and he can play in the next game.”
Schelotto, however, conceded that the 25-year-old will likely miss Velez’s next fixture.
“I don’t think he’ll be available by next Monday, but he could be in the future,” he said.
Machuca’s absence is a significant blow for Velez.
“Unfortunately, we’re missing him. He’ll also be out of training for a while, and that will affect him even if he’s cleared to play. But it happened, we’ll just have to move forward,” said Schelotto.
Machuca, who has made 23 appearances for Velez this season, played a key role in helping the club capture both the Supercopa International and Supercopa Argentina titles last year.
