Brazil 2nd nation at Confederations Cup to report robbery

Brazil 2nd nation to report robbery

PRETORIA, South Africa — Brazil became the second nation at the Confederations Cup to say it was robbed at the team’s hotel.

Brazil coach Dunga revealed the robbery on Sunday. Team spokesman Rodrigo Paiva said “a jacket and some money” disappeared from some of the rooms at the Centurion Lake hotel, just outside Pretoria.

They think it happened when the team went to a safari on Friday, and Paiva says Brazil contacted authorities about the incident.

The Egyptian delegation denied local news reports that players who were robbed last week at the team hotel were “drinking and womanizing” and it was those women who stole from them.

Five Egyptian football players said their Johannesburg hotel rooms were burgled Thursday while they were beating Italy at Ellis Park stadium.

The Sunday Independent quoted an unidentified “senior policeman” as saying: “No money was taken from the safe, but we have heard that they had been drinking and womanizing, and the same women later robbed them.”

Egyptian delegation head Mahmoud Taher denied that report and asked the police to also issue a denial.

“Security officials should have been focused on their duties and thorough investigations and reporting the results,” Taher said in a statement. “After what was published by the newspapers today … we are demanding a formal statement from the police department to either deny these allegations or to provide us with evidence they have (if there is any).”

Taher also demanded a formal apology from the newspapers that printed the claim.

Both FIFA and the local organizing committee have declined to comment on the case because the investigation is ongoing, but Taher gave some details of the incident on Sunday.

“The theft was discovered by some of the players after their arrival from the Egypt-Italy game and was reported to the hotel and the team liaison officer,” Taher said. “Police arrived in the morning and questioned the players who had been robbed and wrote their reports. We are still waiting for the results of these investigations.”

Taher also said the local security would not have allowed anyone into the players’ rooms.

“This tight security measure does not allow any strangers access to the floor of the delegation,” he said.

AP Sports Writer Chris Lehourites in Johannesburg contributed to this report.