Daniel Avellaneda
06/13/2021 6:00 AM
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 06/13/2021 6:00 AM
It will be
the Cup of Discord
, a tournament that triggered discussions and divided society across the continent.
The one that was going to be organized between Argentina and Colombia and will end up being played in Brazil, once again.
The Copa América, traversed by
social, political and health conflicts
, will open its 47th edition this Sunday, when Brazil and Venezuela open fire at the
Mané Garrincha
stadium
in Brasilia
, very close to the Planalto Palace, the seat of executive power. from the country.
And it doesn't seem casual.
In short, despite the criticism it received from different sectors,
the contest was possible thanks to
Jair Bolsonaro.
But he left open a question:
should the show always go on?
Commercial commitments are unavoidable, although three sponsors decided not to accompany the tournament (some, at least in a "face-to-face" way on Brazilian soil).
They are Mastercard, Ambev and Diageo;
a credit card, the world's largest brewery, and the company that owns Johnnie Walker whiskey, Smirnoff vodka, and Tanqueray gin.
Debatable.
In short, they invite consumption and sell alcoholic beverages.
The reasons they put forward had to do with the same reasons that transformed this national team championship into a traveling cup: the pandemic.
And it is true that in Brazil it hits hard: it
is the third country with the most infections in the world
(17,374,818 until this Saturday night) and the second with the most deaths (486,272; of which 1,922 were registered this Saturday).
But it also hacks Colombia and Argentina, where the numbers are equally serious in proportion to the number of inhabitants (51 and 45 million, respectively).
In strictly sanitary terms, on green grass the risk of contracting the disease is almost nil and Conmebol provided a data in this regard:
of the 34 thousand tests carried out in 192
Libertadores
and
Sudamericana
matches
there was barely 0.7% of positive cases.
Controversial.
Jair Bolsonaro brought the Copa América to Brazil and generated divisions in society and the squad.
However,
the harsh social climate
that was generated in the Colombian streets by the decision of the government of Iván Duque to apply a tax reform
and the Argentine political rift devoured the tournament
and the possibility of generating 100 million dollars in accommodation, catering and transfers of the ten delegations.
Brazil, whose president has an open-minded look that produces acceptance and rejection, received the tournament.
And the
Supreme Court of Justice
, in a divided ruling, gave him the right despite the presentations they made from different sectors of the opposition that respond to Lula Da Silva, the historic leader of the Workers' Party.
Beans are cooked everywhere, of course.
There will be no public in the stands, not even in the final
, scheduled for July 10 at the Maracana.
And there will be a strict sanitary protocol that Conmebol presented and was approved by the Brazilian Ministry of Health.
Players will move in bubbles.
They will go from the hotel to the stadium or the airport and vice versa.
Some teams even chose
to base themselves in their own country.
This is the case of Argentina
, which requested to concentrate on the Ezeiza field and travel 24 hours before each game.
There was
an agreement with Sinovac for the vaccination of the members of each selected member -they
must not exceed 65 members-, although not all were inoculated.
Without going any further, the Chinese firm does not have the approval of the ANMAT (National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology) in Argentina.
Only five soccer players from the National Team received the vaccine
against Covid-19:
Juan Musso
, Rodrigo De Paul,
Nahuel Molina
, Leandro Paredes and Angel Di María.
King Arthur.
Vidal has already recovered from Covid-19 and is one of the figures of the Copa América.
(AFP)
Only six federations withdrew the doses of Sinovac: Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Chile, Venezuela and Ecuador.
Peruvians said that it was not fair for players to be vaccinated and not part of the population.
Finally, only a few were inoculated.
Ultimately,
the application was voluntary.
However,
the coronavirus is a rival to beat
.
Let Franco Armani say so, who just yesterday tested negative in the last PCR and almost was left out of the good faith list of Lionel Scaloni.
Venezuela, on the other hand, arrived in Brasilia with a dozen infected players.
On Saturday night several cases accumulated in Bolivia.
For this reason, Conmebol decided to make an amendment in its regulations: it will
allow the substitution of players (without limitations)
, included in the final roster, in which the limit was 50 (Scaloni chose 43), whose swab has tested positive or those that are considered "close contacts", according to local legislation.
Prophet in another land.
Gustavo Alfaro is the coach of Ecuador.
(AFP)
Under this conjuncture, a Cup will be played that may be
the last
silver bullet
for Lionel Messi, beyond the World Cup, more complex due to the level of the European teams.
The
crack
Argentine will
play their sixth continental tournament.
It will not be easy in a scenario in which
Brazil was always champion
, whose stars will play under protest, angry with the organization.
However, it
fuels the dream of the epic
, to take the Olympic lap at the Maracana, the one that was denied that same stadium on July 13, 2014, when they fell to Germany in Rio de Janeiro.
Argentina is a favorite by history
, regardless of the replacement and the unevenness it showed against Chile and Colombia in the Qualifiers.
Brazil, said it is, has all the numbers to reach the final.
It has elite footballers, with Neymar at the head.
Uruguay, the biggest winner with 15 trophies, will arrive with the wise
Maestro
Tabárez
on the bench, Luis Suárez and Edison Cavani in attack and several youngsters.
They appear on the podium.
It had been 30 years since there was a tournament without guests (Qatar and Australia were dropped in 2019).
Coincidentally, in 1991, when Argentines shouted
"champion!"
You have to hold on to something, they say.