One of the big surprises before the Copa América 2024, which will begin this Thursday in the United States, is the absence of a historic, the Chilean Arturo Vidal. The current Colo Colo player, 37 years old, is part of the golden generation that managed to win the tournament twice.
According to the criteria of
Vidal was key for the Chileans to break a historic drought and win two titles in a row: the first, at home, in 2015, and the second, a year later, in the edition that celebrated the centenary of the oldest national team competition in the world.
However, the new coach of the National Team, the Argentine Ricardo Gareca, decided to leave him out of the team that will seek a new title starting on Friday, when Chile will play its first game against Peru in Arlington (Texas).
This is how Gareca justified Arturo Vidal’s absence in the Copa América
“The historical players of the national team that I have spoken about at the time will never stop being taken into account. Unless they stop the activity, that is the only way. And a player who has to be called up by us, even just once, he never stops being taken into account, he is always part of the team. “That doesn’t mean that he’s going to be there or that we’re going to call him up, but it does mean that he’s permanently on our radar.” declared Gareca, explaining Vidal’s absence.
Ricardo Gareca
Photo:
Carlos Caszely criticized Arturo Vidal’s attitude
Another of the historical players of the Chilean National Team, the forward Carlos Caszely, He criticized Vidal’s attitude and gave the reasons why, according to him, he was left out of the continental tournament for the first time since 2007, when he was not called up because he was with the under-20 team.
“He has been improving game by game, we saw it with the goal he scored to qualify for the Copa Libertadores and Católica, but if he had been 100% interested in the national team, he would not have gone on vacation,” said Caszely, a World Cup winner in Germany in 1974. and España 1982, to the Chilean station Radio ADN.
“Arturo is a man who makes differences throughout his career, but if he had wanted to keep an eye on the national team, he would not have gone on vacation to the United States and ride in a helicopter. He would have been worried about preparing,” added Caszely.
SPORTS
More Sports news
#Legend #Chile #Arturo #Vidal #justifies #Ricardo #Gareca #Copa #América
