Marcelo Bielsa explodes and attacks Conmebol for the Copa America, and reminds the United States of the Fifagate: ‘This is a disgrace’

Uruguay The third place match is played this Saturday against CanadaIt will be the consolation prize for a team that was having a good Copa America until the elimination with Colombiawhich ended in scandal after the Uruguayan players fought against Colombian fans.

The Argentinian Marcelo Bielsathe Uruguay coach, harshly attacked the security services at the Charlotte, North Carolina, stadium for not applying the protection protocols for the footballers’ families and assured that the organization should “apologize” for what happened instead of looking for culprits among the Uruguayan footballers.

Bielsa He lost his cool at the press conference when commenting on the brawl after the second semi-final of the Copa América lost by Uruguay against Colombia, when several Uruguayan players, including Darwin Nunez, Jose Maria Gimenez and Ronald Araújo, They jumped into the stands and fought with some fans.

“They don’t realise that if those young men (the Uruguayan players) had not done that, they would have been condemned by us. How can you not defend your baby, your sister, your wife? What punishment are they talking about? What needs to be said is how long will it take them to apologize,” he said.

In his speech Bielsa He also lashed out harshly at Conmebol and accused it of lying about the state of the playing and training fields. He also attacked the media and questioned their ethics when reporting.

All I want to say is that the players reacted as any human being would have done.

“The reason for the reaction is part of the interpretation that is made of the reaction that is being evaluated. How can anyone ask if I am afraid of sanctions, when the only logic that prevails is a mother with a baby in her arms, women, wives, mothers, attacked by spectators,” said Bielsa.

“The protection of spectators has nothing to do with the football team or the federation. What I would have to ask, if I had a minimum of common sense, is whether the players have received an apology, to safeguard responsibility. Ho
w can I fear a sanction that is impossible to happen? The only thing I want to say is that the players reacted as any human being would have done,” he continued.

“If you don’t see that there is a process to prevent what happened, there was no escape route, and both things don’t happen… They are attacking your baby, your mother, your wife. The question also acts in an accomplice manner, I don’t have to say all this. When there is a disproportionate, violent act, of course who is going to be in favor of a violent reaction, but the first thing is to see what the reaction corresponds to,” he added.

Bielsa He said that the only thing that matters to him is that “there is a procedure to prevent it from happening, and if it does happen, that there is a procedure to provide an escape route.”

He lashed out at the media, saying that there is a percentage of them that “do not say what they should” and charged against “the percentage that remains silent.”

His appearance was marked by an intense exchange of opinions with several Uruguayan journalists present in the press room. One of them left after the coach’s accusations.

“This man who is leaving is capitalising on the percentage of people who are facing this with his behaviour,” said Bielsa.

“This deserves one treatment. It’s not about asking if I fear the consequences, the correct question is whether they apologized to the players. Prevention, we are in the United States, the country of security. Then, if prevention fails, there was a resource, the escape route. And they talk to me about sanctions. What frees them (the players) is that they had no other option than to react like that,” he said.

Bielsa attacks the United States

Besides, Bielsa He went head on against USA and reminded him of the Fifagate case. “In a country that was capable of Fifagate, now it turns out that the blame has to be placed on the players,”

“When the United States felt that its interests were being attacked, it created Fifagate, with the FBI, they did what they did, but it was for their own interests. Here (in the Copa America) nothing happened, nothing happened here: the fields, this was an extraordinary party, full stadiums, competitiveness, refereeing, there is nothing to complain about,” Bielsa said ironically when questioning the organization at the press conference prior to Saturday’s match for third place between Uruguay and Canada.

“The punishment should not be for the players, but for those who forced them to act like this. This is a witch hunt. It’s a disgrace,” said Marcelo Bielsa in a press conference that lasted more than 40 minutes.

HAROLD YEPES

SPORTS

With EFE.