The Saltillo Affair () was a series of controversies surrounding the Portugal national team during its participation in the Mexico '86 FIFA World Cup. The affair was named after the Mexican city of Saltillo, Coahuila, in which the team was headquartered for the competition, and also the place where the majority of the described events occurred.
The team had qualified for only one previous World Cup tournament, in 1966, in which it finished third. Following a difficult qualification, the 1986 campaign did not start well with the suspicion of doping falling on one of the players who had been selected for the tournament. Although that test was later proven wrong, that was the first of many controversies to affect the team in the following weeks, including threats of strikes from the players, the announcement of a series of demands to the Portuguese Federation and reports of inappropriate behaviour at the team's headquarters. It was one of the biggest scandals involving the Portugal national team.
Background
Having achieved third place in the England '66 World Cup, several years elapsed before Portugal qualified again for a major football competition. This happened when they reached Euro 84, where they advanced to the semi-finals, being beaten only in extra time by the hosts and soon to be champions France.
While not making a brilliant qualifying campaign for the Mexico World Cup, Portugal qualified one point ahead of Sweden thanks to a last-game victory against already-qualified leaders West Germany in Stuttgart. Nicknaming them Os Infantes, with an anthem sung by Estebes (a fictional Porto native sports reporter with a stereotypical deep accent and fondness for wine, created by Portuguese humorist Herman José), the Portuguese had high hopes for their national team.
Before the World Cup
One of the key issues initially tackled was how to deal with altitude. While only one of three matches of the group stage were played in altitude – two games in Monterrey (537 m) and one in Guadalajara (1600 m) – it was argued that the team should also prepare for games in Mexico City (2238 m), and so decided that the headquarters should be in Saltillo, neighbouring the England team.
With problems scoring goals during the preparation matches, national team manager José Augusto Torres wanted to call up Rui Jordão, one of the key players two years before in France, who had not played the whole season due to a quarrel with his manager. On the other hand, Manuel Fernandes, who had had one of his best seasons, scoring 30 goals, was not an acceptable option for Torres, to the dismay of Sporting fans. The team was eventually announced on 19 April:
Goalkeepers: Manuel Bento, Vítor Damas and Jorge Martins
Defenders: João Pinto, António Morato, Pedro Venâncio, Augusto Inácio, António Veloso, José António, Frederico Rosa, Álvaro Magalhães and Sobrinho Midfielders: Jaime Magalhães, Carlos Manuel, Jaime Pacheco, António André, António Sousa, Paulo Futre and José Ribeiro Forwards: Diamantino Miranda, Rui Águas and Fernando Gomes
Hours before leaving Portugal on 10 May, Veloso tested positive for Primobolan, an anabolic steroid. This led to initial tensions between players, the FPF, and Benfica, Veloso's club, between claims of innocence and accusations of improper player care, woke Fernando Bandeirinha at 2 o'clock in the morning and rushed him to the airport as a substitute.
After a questionable decision about the air trip to Mexico (it was decided that instead of flying directly to Mexico City, the team should travel via Frankfurt and Dallas), on arrival it was clear that the Portuguese organisation cared too much about altitude training, neglecting other aspects. The hotel, although suitable, had no safety measures, which meant it was often crowded with national and foreign reporters; the training field was sloping and poorly prepared; and local amateur teams were invited for preparation matches.
Presented as a peaceful city, Saltillo proved to be anything but that. As the city was close to Laredo, Texas, in the United States, many players wanted to use their days off to shop there. A local organisation delegate (grandson of a politician, known for being a small-time con artist) offered to go there and purchase the goods for the Portuguese, but after helping himself to the money, never returned.