Now, apparently, Brazil’s soccer stars are also protesting against the controversial Copa America. In view of around 470,000 corona deaths in the country and a lot of criticism from the participating nations, doubts in the host team are increasing. The short-term relocation of the tournament (June 13th to July 11th) to its own pandemic area caused internal crisis meetings with the five-time soccer world champion.
National coach Tite confirmed that the Seleção players around superstar Neymar had even moved association president Rogerio Caboclo to an emergency meeting on Wednesday. “It was a clear, direct conversation,” reported Tite, but added: “We have an opinion, but will not express it now.” The 60-year-old promised after all, after the World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador on Friday and in Paraguay to announce the decisions of the discussion next Tuesday (local time).
In Brazil’s media it is said that especially the legionnaires working in Europe are against a South American championship at the Sugar Loaf in view of the tense coronavirus situation in their home country. It is noticeable that since Tuesday, the official announcement of Brazil as substitute host for Colombia due to unrest and Argentina due to the rapid spread of the pandemic, no players have participated in the daily press conference with a view to the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
“At first it was a request from me. Today it came from them. At a given time they will speak up, ‘said Tite, explaining the absence of Captain Casemiro at the press conference the day before in Porto Alegre.
Argentina’s national coach Lionel Scaloni was the first person directly affected to describe the award to Brazil as “alarming and worrying” in view of the corona situation. Chile’s national coach Martín Lasarte described the event in the largest South American country as a “huge risk”, as “health comes first” for him.
The mayor of Rio de Janeiro said that if the corona situation deteriorated, he wanted to cancel the games in his city. “I don’t see any advantage in playing Copa games. We didn’t ask, and if you want my opinion, this is not the time to organize such a tournament, ”said Eduardo Paes.
In addition to Rio with the world-famous Maracana, other arenas for the 2014 World Cup and Goiania are planned as venues for the Copa in the capital Brasilia and Cuiaba. Spectators are not allowed in the stadiums.
