Copa America: three teams affected by the Covid just before the tournament

The name is now fashionable in Latin America: are we heading for a “Copa Corona”? The teams of Venezuela, Bolivia and Colombia were struck by positive cases for the coronavirus on Saturday and Sunday a few hours before the opening of the Copa América 2021 in Brazil, a country itself seriously affected by the pandemic. Eleven members of the Venezuelan delegation, including eight players, tested positive for Covid-19, the Venezuelan Football Federation said on Saturday.

The captain of the Vinotinto, Tomas Rincon, for his part announced on Instagram that he was positive for the coronavirus and that he was withdrawing from the tournament. His federation announced Friday that the midfielder of Torino, victim of “épisode viral“without further clarification, had remained at” the isalement“in Caracas. The Venezuelan federation has reported eleven cases,”eight players and three members of the staff, who were immediately dismissed“, without giving their names.

The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) had on the other hand reported a little earlier of 13 infected people, specifying: “All are asymptomatic“and”isolated“. “All are isolated in the hotel, including those who have been in contact“with them, then declared the Brazilian Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga. During his press conference, he also confirmed the holding of the opening match Brazil-Venezuela, Sunday in Brasilia (21:00 GMT).

Three positive Bolivian players

To make up for all these absences, Venezuela coach José Peseiro has called up 15 new players to compete in the competition. On Friday, the Conmebol had authorized the replacement “without limitation“players who are said to be positive and those considered to be” contact cases “and who must remain in quarantine. Two” Vinotinto “players, Wilker Angel and Rolf Feltscher, had previously been excluded from the list due to infections in the coronavirus.

Shortly after Venezuela, it was Bolivia which announced cases of contamination. “After having carried out PCR tests on the Bolivian delegation which is in Brazil (…) three positive cases among the players and one in the technical staff were detected“, said the Bolivian Football Federation (FBF) in a statement sent to AFP.

The federation, which did not disclose the identity of the people concerned, said they were “healthy and isolated from the group“, and “all procedures established by the sanitary protocol“had been immediately put in place. She did not mention any summons of other players to compensate for these impromptu absences. The Bolivian selection, coached by the Venezuelan César Farias, has been in Goiania since Wednesday, where she arrived after his match in Chile (1-1) as part of the qualifications for the World Cup-2022. Bolivia will compete in this city against Paraguay on Monday.

A third selection, Colombia, revealed on Sunday that two members of its management had tested positive for Covid. It is an assistant coach and a physiotherapist, announced the Colombian Federation in a statement, specifying that they were “asymptomatic” and “isolated in quarantine”. Colombia are due to make their Copa debut against Ecuador on Monday in Group B.

Tracing

The question now arises: is the disease more widespread among Copa participants? On the side of Venezuela, seven of the eight infected players were titular against Uruguay (0-0) Tuesday in Caracas, in qualifying for the World-2022, said Jose Peseiro, still without revealing their names.

Health authorities in Brasilia are tracing all those who have been in contact with those infected and will perform tests to determine the type of variant of the coronavirus, the secretary of health of the federal district of the capital, Osnei Okumoto, explained on CNN Brazil. . “Given the length of their stay here, they must have come with the disease from the last country they were in.“, he added.

Brazil has been hit hard by the Gamma variant, which first appeared on its territory. The Delta variant, first detected in India, has been reported in imported cases but has not been confirmed as a case of local transmission.

“I would like there to be a level playing field for everyone in the competition“, deplored the coach of Brazil, Tite, who also assured that his team nevertheless felt safe to approach this match against the Venezuelans. The organization of the Copa America is already criticized from all sides because of the health situation in Brazil, appointed new organizer of the competition after the withdrawal of Argentina and Colombia.Brazil is the second country most bereaved by the pandemic, after the United States, with more than 485,000 deaths.