Marcelo Bielsa was more Bielsa than ever in the press conference prior to Saturday’s match against Canada for third place in the Copa America being played in the United States. The Argentinean lashed out furiously at the tournament organizers and Conmebol. He also lashed out at the journalists, whom he accused of “keeping quiet” so as not to confront the powers that be. “This is a plague of liars,” the coach said of the South American leadership. Bielsa complained about the grass on the playing fields, the refereeing and the security in the stadiums. And he said that his Argentinean colleague, Lionel Scaloni, was forcibly silenced when he was critical of the leadership. He demanded an apology for his players, who are being investigated by Conmebol after the incidents at the end of the 0-1 defeat against Colombia last Wednesday. Bielsa closed the conference by warning that his statements would bring him problems with Conmebol. “One has to speak thinking of all the threats one receives if one speaks,” he said.
The Argentine was upset when asked by a journalist about the disciplinary sanctions that await eleven players from the Uruguayan national team for fighting with Colombian fans in the stands of the Bank of America stadium in Charlotte. “Are you asking if they are going to sanction those who went to defend? It is a degree of complicity, because the questions also act in a complicit manner,” he said, staring into the eyes of the person in question. And from that moment on he could not stop. “The only thing I can tell you is that the players reacted as any human being would have done. If they are attacking their mother, their wife, a baby, what are they going to ask me? If they are going to sanction them afterwards? The sanction should be for those who forced the players to react like that. They are going to suspend the players, apologize to them, man,” roared Bielsa.
The strategy of the Uruguayan Football Association It was before Conmebol that the players intervened to defend their families, who were being attacked by Colombian fans. Bielsa said that the responsibility fell to those who should have been guarding the stands or at least offering an escape route for those attacked. “This is simple: either you listen to the possible sanctions or you listen to the lack of an apology. Here prevention and the escape route failed and that is why the players reacted like this,” the Argentine coach justified.
The accusations against the press particularly upset some Uruguayan journalists. The most tense moment came when one of them, Rodrigo Romano, Teledoce, He stood up and left. “What you are saying is unfair. Most of us defended the players. So if you will excuse me, I am going to leave,” the journalist told Bielsa, already standing and about to leave the room. “What you are doing is an act. I spoke of a percentage of journalists, not of all. Thank God I do not know who you journalists are,” Bielsa replied.
By then, the conference was a monologue by the Argentine, who raised his voice, gestured with his hands and answered questions he himself asked. He said that he had been accumulating anger against the organization for days and that he had unintentionally said more than he was willing to say. By then, he had already fired at everyone. “When the United States felt that its interests were being attacked, it created the FIFA Gate “Nothing happened here, it was a party, stadiums full, but they can’t keep lying that the pitches are perfect. They held a press conference saying it was a visual issue, that Vinicius doesn’t see, that Scaloni shouldn’t talk. All threats. Scaloni spoke once and dared to say that the seams (of the natural grass that they placed on the artificial grass) don’t close. And the training fields were a disaster. And Bolivia didn’t train, and the penalty against Brazil and all the injustices. It’s a disgrace, in a country that as an organizer has responsibility,” he said.
Uruguay will play this Saturday against Canada, which was eliminated from the final after the 0-2 defeat against Argentina. Sky blue He arrives with eleven players under threat of sanctions from Conmebol and his coach in flames against the management.
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