Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa on Friday said that his players deserve an apology, not sanctions, for going into the stands at Bank of America Stadium and participating in a fight with Colombia fans following his team’s 1-0 Copa America semi-final loss.
An angry Bielsa criticized tournament organizers for not doing enough to protect the families of players seated behind the Uruguay bench and he justified players taking matters into their own hands to protect their loved ones.
“We are in the United States, the country of security,” Bielsa said through an interpreter during an emotional 45-minute news conference. “How can you not defend your mother, your sister, a baby? If they did not do it, they would have been condemned by all of us.”
Photo: Jim Dedmon-USA Today
CONMEBOL, South American soccer’s governing body, on Thursday said that its disciplinary committee opened an investigation.
“It is unacceptable that an incident like this turns passion into violence,” the federation said in a statement.
Asked if he feared sanctions for his team, Bielsa grew irate.
“The sanction does not have to be for the players, but for those who forced them to act like this,” Bielsa said. “This is a witch hunt. It is a shame.”
Uruguay had the option of seating families in luxury boxes instead of in the crowd.
A raucous crowd of more than 70,000 — the vast majority of whom were wearing Colombia’s colors — attended the match on Wednesday at the downtown Charlotte stadium, home of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and Major League Soccer’s Charlotte FC.
There were only a few small patches of Uruguay fans in the crowd at the start of the game, many of them behind the team’s bench.
After an emotional and physical game that included seven yellow cards and one red, a fight broke out in the stands and drinks were thrown. Shoving and punches ensued. The melee grew in terms of the magnitude of people involved before more than a dozen Uruguay players, including Darwin Nunez, climbed a small set of portable stairs into the crowd.
Bielsa said that not enough precautions were in place and an emergency exit path for Uruguay fans was not provided.
Many in the Uruguayan soccer association delegation got away from the fighting by climbing down onto the playing field while Mecklenburg County Police and security restored order as the stadium was cleared.
The melee in the stands lasted more than five minutes.
At one point during the news conference, Bielsa got into a heated exchange with a reporter who left halfway through.
“You should have asked me if we have received an apology, not if I fear sanctions,” Bielsa said.
Bielsa went on to attack media firms, saying “journalism responds to the interests of those who administer power, who are the ones who distribute the money. There is a percentage of journalism that responds to this. Those who do not respond to the interests of power are the ones who suffer because they are loyal.”
Bielsa said he did not plan to talk about the incident, but could not hold back.
“I am very afraid of sports revenge,” Bielsa said. “They always threaten you in sports. Here the message was we cannot defend your family and we cannot allow them to flee. What sanction are they talking to me about? What we have to see is when are they going to apologize.”
Sebastian Caceres was the latest Uruguay player to express concern over how the events unfolded.
“What happened after the game is something that anyone would have done,” Caceres said. “I went up to check that my family was OK and I tried to take a teammate with me so that it wouldn’t continue.”
There are two games left in the tournament. Uruguay are to play Canada this morning Taiwan time in the playoff for third, while Argentina and Colombia are to contest the final tomorrow.
Additional reporting by staff writer
TIGHT FINISH: Napoli only needed to do the same as or better than Inter, who won their game against Como 2-0 on the same day, leaving Napoli with a one-point lead The two players who Antonio Conte wanted more than any others secured Napoli their second Serie A title in three years on Friday. Scott McTominay scored with an acrobatic bicycle kick before halftime and Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead with a solo goal after the break in the decisive 2-0 home win over Cagliari. Conte became the first coach to win the Italian championship with three different teams. “Everyone contributed to this — but the coach most of all,” Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo said. “Napoli needed him to get back on top. He’s phenomenal.” Comparing it to his three Serie A titles won
The journey of Taiwan’s badminton mixed doubles duo Ye Hong-wei and Nicole Chan at the Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur came to an end in the semi-finals yesterday after they suffered a 2-0 loss to China’s Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping. Ye, 25, and Chan, 20, teamed up last year and are currently ranked No. 23 in the world. The Taiwanese shuttlers took on China’s second seeds in the mixed doubles event, but proved no match for Feng and Huang, losing the match 10-21, 7-21. In the first half of the first game, the pairings were neck and neck at 6-7 until Ye
SSC Napoli coach Antonio Conte has dragged the team back from disaster and restored them to the top of Italian Serie A, but his future at the Scudetto winners is in doubt even after a triumphant season. The fiery 55-year-old has exceeded preseason expectations and bolstered his reputation as a serial winner by guiding Napoli to their fourth Scudetto, and second in three seasons. However, he might well be on his way in the summer after just one season at the helm as his charged relationship with Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has simmered throughout the campaign. Conte has said
Carlos Alcaraz on Monday powered into the French Open second round with a resounding win to start his title defense, while world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and three-time defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek also progressed at Roland Garros. Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz struck 31 winners in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri and is to face Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in round two. Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak at the French Open and also took Olympic silver at Roland Garros last year, losing the final to Novak Djokovic. “The first round is never
RSS