RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Former coach of the Argentine national soccer team Sebastiao Lazaroni insisted Friday that investigations should continue on the alleged "doping" of Brazilian player Branco, by Argentina in the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy.

    "What happened became a black moment of world soccer and a stain in the Argentine soccer," said Lazaroni, making reference toan incident that presumedly happened in the Brazil-Argentina match.

    In that occasion, Brazilian player Branco was reported to drinkwater from a bottle handed over by an Argentine player which was presumedly prepared by the Argentine technical team, which made him feel weak and dizzy.

    Then, Branco said he suspected the water contained a strange substance, but nobody paid any attention.

    Nevertheless, last December, the matter was resuscitated by Diego Maradona, who back then participated in the goal that gave the victory to the Argentines and eliminated Brazil.

    Fourteen years later, Maradona said he knew of the scheme and invited Branco to drink the water which contained spleeping pills mixed in the water.

    Last week, the then Argentine coach, Carlos Bilardo, said he knew something of the matter, although he later backed down and firmly denied such possibility.

    Nonetheless, doctor Eduardo de Rose, representative of Brazil in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), said the case is "more of a legal than a medical matter," as it is not possible to prove this, for no urine sample was taken from Branco back then.

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