World Football

Vidal threatens to boycott Chile match over unpaid bonus

23:24 BST, Mon 8 Oct 2007
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SANTIAGO, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Chile defender Arturo Vidal on Monday threatened not to play in this month's two World Cup qualifiers because of a pay row going back to this year's Under-20 World Cup in Canada.

Vidal said the members of the under-20 squad were still waiting to receive a bonus of $10,000 each for finishing third in the tournament in July.

"I'm going to speak to the coach (Marcelo Bielsa) because they have to pay us this money," the Bayer Leverkusen player told reporters. "We've been waiting two months and there's no solution."

"I think we'll take drastic measures to get paid."

The Chilean federation say the money has not been paid because they are investigating an incident following the semi-final defeat against Argentina, when players brawled with Canadian police.

All 21 members of the squad were briefly detained after the game in Toronto. Witnesses said police used pepper spray and electric-shock guns against the players.

Vidal is one of the three members of the Under-20 team named in the senior squad for this month's matches, the first in the South American qualifying competition for the 2010 World Cup.

Chile visit Argentina on Saturday and host Peru four days later.

Chile have been plagued by disciplinary problems recently and has banned six senior players for 20 international games following an incident at the team hotel during the Copa America in Venezuela.

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