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Tag: Copa America

  • Colombia dropped as Copa America co-host

    Colombia dropped as Copa America co-host

    The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) says Colombia will no longer co-host this year’s Copa America amid civil unrest and surging coronavirus cases.

    The tournament — which was due to be held jointly by Colombia and Argentina — is slated to begin on June 13, having been postponed by a year because of the pandemic.

    Colombia had been scheduled to host fixtures in four cities, and the final was earmarked for Barranquilla’s Estadio Metropolitano on July 10.

    “CONMEBOL guarantees the realisation of the 2021 Copa America and in the coming days will inform where the games originally allocated to Colombia will be played,” the entity said in a statement.

    The announcement came just hours after Colombian sports minister Ernesto Lucena asked CONMEBOL to postpone the tournament until local coronavirus restrictions were eased to allow fans into stadiums.

    CONMEBOL said it was impossible to reschedule the competition because of the tight global football calendar.

    Argentine President Alberto Fernandez this week offered to stage the entire Copa America if Colombia could no longer be a co-host.

    Colombia is currently grappling with a prolonged third wave of COVID-19 infections and many cities have strict nightly curfews while large public gatherings remain banned.

    The health ministry has reported more than three million confirmed cases of the virus and over 83,000 fatalities.

    In addition to the pandemic, the Andean country is in the midst of violent anti-government protests.

    These have claimed the lives of at least 42 people since April 28, according to the attorney-general’s office.

    The public body has said it is also investigating the disappearance of 134 people during the demonstrations, which continued on Thursday.

    Copa Libertadores matches in Cali and Barranquilla last week were marred by images of players and officials visibly struggling with the effects of tear gas used by police to disperse protesters.

  • COPA America: Ronaldo Could Win It Before Messi – Mourinho

    COPA America: Ronaldo Could Win It Before Messi – Mourinho

    Former Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has mocked Lionel Messi, saying Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo could win the COPA America before him.
    Concise News learned that Messi had not won any senior international crown with Argentina and berated the organizers of the COPA America 2019 for favouring Brazil to win the competition.
    Argentina lost 2-0 to Brazil in the sem-final of the competition and Messi said, “I think there is no doubt. Unfortunately, I think it is prepared for Brazil [to win it].
    “I hope that the VAR and the referees have nothing to do and that Peru can compete because they have the team to win, but I see it difficult.”
    However, Mourinho has thrown a subtle jibe at the Barcelona star over his inability to win the title.
    According to him, if CONMEBOL(South America’s football ruling body) were to invite Portugal, Spain and France for the continental tournament, Ronaldo could win it before Messi.
    “If CONMEBOL wants to increase its audience and make the Copa America competitive, they should invite European teams: invite Spain, invite France, invite Portugal,” Mourinho added.
    “If they invite Portugal, Cristiano could win a Copa America before Messi.”

  • Host Brazil beat Peru 3-1 to win Copa America

    Brazil’s Gabriel Jesus made one goal, scored another and was sent off in the second half as they beat Peru 3-1 on Sunday to win the Copa America.
    Brazil won the trophy for the ninth time in a pulsating contest at the Maracana stadium.
    The hosts took the lead against the run of play after 15 minutes.
    Gabriel Jesus bamboozled two defenders on the right flank and crossed for the unmarked Everton to fire home from close range.
    Peru equalised a minute before halftime when Paolo Guerrero scored from the penalty spot after Thiago Silva was adjudged to have handled the ball.
    Jesus however restored their lead just moments later to put the home side 2-1 up at the break.
    Peru pushed for a second goal, particularly after Jesus was sent off for a second yellow card in the 70th minute.
    But it was Brazil who sealed the win in the final minute when substitute Richarlison converted a penalty kick.
    It was Brazil’s first major title since they won the Copa America in 2007 and the first for coach Tite, who took charge three years ago.

  • Copa America: Messi sent off before halftime against Chile

    Lionel Messi was sent off before halftime in a bad-tempered third-place playoff between Argentina and Chile in the Copa America on Saturday.

    The match was 34 minutes old when Chilean captain Gary Medel shepherded out a ball near his own goal. Messi challenged him from behind and Medel reacted angrily, pushing the Argentine and raising his hands.

    The Paraguayan referee showed Medel a red card and although Messi did not react he was also sent off, prompting boos in Sao Paulo’s Corinthians arena.

    It was only the second red card of Messi’s career, the first also coming while playing for Argentina on his debut against Hungary in 2005.

    The match was continuing, with Argentina going 2-0 up thanks to goals from Sergio Aguero and Paulo Dybala.

    Hosts Brazil face Peru in the final on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro.

  • Copa America: Peru defeat Chile to reach first final since 1975

    Peru ended Chile’s hopes of winning a third consecutive Copa America title as they reached a first final since 1975 with a comfortable semi-final victory.

    Edison Flores and Yoshimar Yotun scored first-half goals and Paolo Guerrero added a late third for Peru, while Chile missed an injury-time penalty.
    Peru meet hosts Brazil in the final on Sunday, after they beat Argentina 2-0.
    “We’ve come through some tough moments in the Copa and we deserve to be in the final,” said Peru coach Ricardo Gareca.
    Peru’s performance came one match after they were thumped 5-0 by Brazil in their final group game and Gareca, 61, added: “We managed to overcome the huge adversity that was this defeat, and that was hastily judged and provoked a wave of harsh criticism.”
    Chile squandered a number of chances – including the late penalty with Eduardo Vargas’ attempted ‘Panenka-style’ spot-kick saved by in-form Peru goalkeeper Pedro Gallese.
    Peru, who beat 15-time winners Uruguay on penalties in the quarter-finals, opened the scoring in the 21st-minute when winger Flores nodded in from a corner.
    Left-back Yotun volleyed in a second before the break, to punish a mistake by Chile keeper Gabriel Arias.
    Guerrero completed the victory in injury time over a Chile side ranked 16th in the world, five places above Peru.
    Chile manager Reinaldo Rueda was unable to explain his side’s performance, following their penalty shootout win over Colombia in the quarter-finals and said Peru “surprised” them.
    “I don’t know what factors could have influenced these first 20 minutes that made the difference,” said the Colombian.
    “Mentally we wanted to play the final without dealing first with this step and Peru surprised us.”
    Chile had been aiming to win a third title on the bounce, a feat not achieved since Argentina managed it from 1945-47.
    The Copa America final takes places at Rio’s Maracana Stadium on Sunday, 7 July.
    BBC

  • Messi fumes after Copa America defeat to Brazil

    Messi fumes after Copa America defeat to Brazil

    Lionel Messi accused Copa America officials of favouring hosts Brazil after Argentina’s hopes were ended in Belo Horizonte.
    Goals from Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firmino handed the Selecao a place in Sunday’s final with a 2-0 win over their most bitter rivals in Wednesday night’s semi-final.
    Argentina had chances themselves, with Messi and Sergio Aguero both striking the woodwork, and were arguably the better side throughout the 90 minutes.
    However, it was the officials who drew the ire of Messi after the game with the Barcelona superstar scathing in his assessment of referee Roddy Zambrano and the Video Assistant Referee.
    Messi had approached the officiating team at full-time for a frank exchange of views.
    Messi was furious at a decision not to award Aguero a penalty after he appeared to be cleaned out when running through on goal shortly before Firmino doubled the hosts’ advantage.
    The challenge on Aguero wasn’t even looked at by VAR, something which – given the use of VAR at the tournament – left Messi enraged.
    He fumed: “They were not better than us. They found the net early and the second goal came from a penalty [to Aguero] they didn’t award,” Messi told reporters.
    “They [the officials] had called a lot of bulls**t, but they didn’t even check the VAR, that’s unbelievable.
    “That happened all over the game. At the first glance of contact, they ruled in their [Brazil’s] favour and this kind of bulls**t distracted us from the game.”

  • Copa America: Brazil finally names Neymar’s replacement

    Copa America: Brazil finally names Neymar’s replacement

    Brazil has finally named the player that will replace injured Paris Saint-Germain star, Neymar at the upcoming 2019 Copa America.

    Neymar has been ruled out of Brazil’s 2019 Copa America campaign, after rupturing ankle ligaments in a friendly against Qatar few days ago.

    According to Liverpool Echo, Brazil has now called up Chelsea’s Willian to replace Neymar.

    Willian was not included in Brazil coach, Tite’s initial 23-man squad released last month.

    Brazil host the Copa America between June 14 and July 7, kicking off against Bolivia before facing Venezuela and Peru, respectively

  • Injured Neymar to miss Copa America

    Neymar will miss the 2019 Copa America on home soil after rupturing a ligament in his ankle during Brazil’s 2-0 friendly win over Qatar in Brasilia.

    The Paris St-Germain forward, 27, who was stripped of the Brazilian captaincy in May, limped off after 17 minutes.

    Everton’s Richarlison had put the hosts ahead after 16 minutes and Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus added a second eight minutes later.

    The 12-team Copa America tournament starts on Friday, 14 June.

    Neymar was taken to hospital for a scan after being helped off the pitch by members of the Brazil support staff, having appeared to twist his ankle.

    Brazil coach Tite, who on Monday described the forward as “indispensable” but not “irreplaceable” in the team, initially believed the injury would not be “very serious”.

    Neymar, who joined PSG from Barcelona for a world record 222m euros in August 2017, missed three months between January and April earlier this year after breaking a metatarsal in his right foot.

    He also missed three months following surgery on the same injury in 2018, returning just in time to play in the World Cup.

  • Japan, Qatar to feature in Copa America

    Japan, Qatar to feature in Copa America

    The 2019 Copa America in Brazil will include Japan and Qatar but no teams from North America will participate.

    South American football’s governing body CONMEBOL confirmed the two guest sides were included in the 12-nation tournament because of close links with the Asian Football Confederation.

    Japan have previously played in the Copa America, in 1999, while Qatar will host the 2022 World Cup.

    Brazil were originally due to host the 2015 Copa but swapped its organisation rights with Chile, who went on to win the trophy that year after defeating Argentina in a penalty shoot-out.

    The same sides also met the following year in a special edition of the tournament to celebrate 100 years of the tournament (originally known as the South American Championship), with Chile again proving victorious on penalties after another goalless draw.

    The Copa America will be played between June 14 and July 7 next year.

    sky sports