Copa America 2021

[paraguayo]

Anyone following this 2021 edition?

It was supposed to be in Colombia and Argentina, but last weeks civil unrest made Colombia pull out, and now Conmebol just confirmed it will not be hosted by Argentina (due to Covid situation there)... and that they are searching for new hosts.... 2 weeks from the start of the competition!

PS: I bumped an old thread because annoyingly I cannot create any threads eventhough I've been here for years now.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Anyone following this 2021 edition?

It was supposed to be in Colombia and Argentina, but last weeks civil unrest made Colombia pull out, and now Copa America just confirmed it will not be hosted by Argentina due to Covid

PS: I bumped an old thread because absurdly I cannot create any threads eventhough I've been here for years now.

What a shitshow. Should've been canceled ages ago due to the fixture congestion and WC qualifying schedule.

 

[Judas]

Bloody hell didn't even realise this was happening this summer as well! Idiotic.

 

[Dans]

What a shitshow. Should've been canceled ages ago due to the fixture congestion and WC qualifying schedule.

Then so should the Euros of course.

 

[FootballHQ]

33 pages for the 2007 edition.

Argentina were brilliant that tournament and still got mugged off by an understrength Brazil in the final of that one.

It's a shame as always a tournament I enjoy watching but it's been way overplayed lately.

Just to be every 4 years but been played in 2015, 2016, 2019 and possibly still this year.

Should be moved to summer 2023 and they spend this summer just fitting in a couple more of the world cup qualifiers that have already been cancelled. If you look on calendar for next season there's two scheduled for late Jan/early Feb but no idea how that works with the major euro leagues unless they just all take a winter break in that period.

 

[Dans]

It's been given to Brazil. Mental.

Argentina stripped of the tournament due to Covid and they give it to the country which has done such a sterling job of fighting the virus.

 

[izec]

Are fans allowed to attend?

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

This needs a new thread titled 'Copa America (doing a bad job again)'

 

[Idxomer]

Copa 2007 is my favorite tournament of all time.

 

[Lay]

Copa 2007 is my favorite tournament of all time.

Loved it. The quarter finals were very one sided though 6-0, 6-1, 4-1,4-0.

Argentina should have won that tournament. I recall in the final they stifled Riquelme and bullied Messi and Tevez

 

[Infordin]

Brazil

There goes Messi’s last chance at an international trophy

 

[Josh 76]

Apparently all the games are live on the BBC.
Will be live football on 24 hours a day in next few weeks

 

[Ajr]

I have a great idea, lets host it in the UK. More specifically the Falkland Islands

 

[paraguayo]

It's been given to Brazil. Mental.

Argentina stripped of the tournament due to Covid and they give it to the country which has done such a sterling job of fighting the virus.

Argentina wasn't stripped, they backed down from organizing it

 

[George Owen]

Conmebol is so corrupt.

Brazil? The Brazil that is a cultivation soup for all kind of covid strains.

Unfeckingbelievable.

 

[Frank Sinatra Fan]

To be fair, the pandemic has gotten clearly better in last weeks. But it's not saying much, considering how terrible the situation was not too long ago.

 

[George Owen]

Digging the newly released logo.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Then so should the Euros of course.

I don't know about UEFA, but the CONMEBOL qualifiers are 18 rounds and have already been delayed due to multiple rounds having been canceled.

 

[Chicharo]

So, any Argentinians here to confirm what he feck actually happened? Is it really just about Covid?

 

[Infordin]

Emi Martinez
Foyth - Romero - Quarta - Tagliafico
Paredes - De Paul
Di Maria - Messi - Ocampos
Lautaro​

The way I see it, the central defenders are quite inexperienced, but the overall team is good and balanced.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[antohan]

So, any Argentinians here to confirm what he feck actually happened? Is it really just about Covid?

Colombia has had major civil unrest. The last few Libertadores games had visitors refusing to leave their hotels, some games hosted in Ecuador, etc. Most important, those protesting believed going ahead with it would be a government ploy to appease them (football and not religion being the opium of the masses down here).

Separately, in Argentina they are not far off the civil unrest and currently enforcing lockdown. It would be crazy to go ahead with hosting a tournament when you are telling people to stay locked at home. It's not just a contradiction, inevitably the lockdown will be breached en masse as was the case with the Maradona funeral. Again, football, not just a simple matter of life and death.

So no, it wasn't Conmebol cancelling. Conmebol want it to go ahead, they already postponed it for a year and a further postponement effectively means skipping one altogether. Should they? Of course, it used to be every four years and much better. Having one in 2015 and another 2016 starts turning it into some sort of Emirates Cup. They love them huge contracts, backhanders, T&E... Nothing to do with the sport.

Brazil? Well, Bolsonaro wants to keep the economy going, this injects money so great. Is it safe? No, I run a business in Brazil and have zoomed my way through the last year. Why should multimillion pound athletes be exposed needlessly? Exactly right, they shouldn't.

I reckon the only way this is stopped though is with the players refusing to play. Will they? Will FIFA ban the lot for X months for unilaterally forcing a child confederation to fail to deliver the goods for the networks? Possible. Could they do it? Sure, any contract should have get out clauses including, errr, global pandemics? A country telling you it's in lockdown? Riots in the streets? But they don't want to.

Gracias negrito (Infantino).

 

[Chicharo]

Colombia has had major civil unrest. The last few Libertadores games had visitors refusing to leave their hotels, some games hosted in Ecuador, etc. Most important, those protesting believed going ahead with it would be a government ploy to appease them (football and not religion being the opium of the masses down here).

Separately, in Argentina they are not far off the civil unrest and currently enforcing lockdown. It would be crazy to go ahead with hosting a tournament when you are telling people to stay locked at home. It's not just a contradiction, inevitably the lockdown will be breached en masse as was the case with the Maradona funeral. Again, football, not just a simple matter of life and death.

So no, it wasn't Conmebol cancelling. Conmebol want it to go ahead, they already postponed it for a year and a further postponement effectively means skipping one altogether. Should they? Of course, it used to be every four years and much better. Having one in 2015 and another 2016 starts turning it into some sort of Emirates Cup. They love them huge contracts, backhanders, T&E... Nothing to do with the sport.

Brazil? Well, Bolsonaro wants to keep the economy going, this injects money so great. Is it safe? No, I run a business in Brazil and have zoomed my way through the last year. Why should multimillion pound athletes be exposed needlessly? Exactly right, they shouldn't.

I reckon the only way this is stopped though is with the players refusing to play. Will they? Will FIFA ban the lot for X months for unilaterally forcing a child confederation to fail to deliver the goods for the networks? Possible. Could they do it? Sure, any contract should have get out clauses including, errr, global pandemics? A country telling you it's in lockdown? Riots in the streets? But they don't want to.

Gracias negrito (Infantino).

Thanks for clearing things up. I assumed and somewhat knew this would be an answer
The only thing is the question about how much profit will this really bring to Brazil. These are not normal circumstances in which the stadiums would be full and the fans would swarm Brazil

 

[Siezard]

They should just reduce the total number of matches. Should just let the lowest ranked teams do a play-offs. And the top 6 seeds plus 2 playoff winners play the quarter-finals.

 

[izec]

Emi Martinez
Foyth - Romero - Quarta - Tagliafico
Paredes - De Paul
Di Maria - Messi - Ocampos
Lautaro​

The way I see it, the central defenders are quite inexperienced, but the overall team is good and balanced.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

It is a better team than previously. I would have gone for Martinez or Pezzella for Quarta at CB and Angel Correa for Di Maria, but the rest is pretty much how i would go as well.

 

[The Firestarter]

Colombia has had major civil unrest. The last few Libertadores games had visitors refusing to leave their hotels, some games hosted in Ecuador, etc. Most important, those protesting believed going ahead with it would be a government ploy to appease them (football and not religion being the opium of the masses down here).

Separately, in Argentina they are not far off the civil unrest and currently enforcing lockdown. It would be crazy to go ahead with hosting a tournament when you are telling people to stay locked at home. It's not just a contradiction, inevitably the lockdown will be breached en masse as was the case with the Maradona funeral. Again, football, not just a simple matter of life and death.

So no, it wasn't Conmebol cancelling. Conmebol want it to go ahead, they already postponed it for a year and a further postponement effectively means skipping one altogether. Should they? Of course, it used to be every four years and much better. Having one in 2015 and another 2016 starts turning it into some sort of Emirates Cup. They love them huge contracts, backhanders, T&E... Nothing to do with the sport.

Brazil? Well, Bolsonaro wants to keep the economy going, this injects money so great. Is it safe? No, I run a business in Brazil and have zoomed my way through the last year. Why should multimillion pound athletes be exposed needlessly? Exactly right, they shouldn't.

I reckon the only way this is stopped though is with the players refusing to play. Will they? Will FIFA ban the lot for X months for unilaterally forcing a child confederation to fail to deliver the goods for the networks? Possible. Could they do it? Sure, any contract should have get out clauses including, errr, global pandemics? A country telling you it's in lockdown? Riots in the streets? But they don't want to.

Gracias negrito (Infantino).

Is the Covid situation in Brazil as bleak as it is reported internationally?

 

[Idxomer]

Just play it in Europe or Qatar in the winter.

 

[antohan]

Is the Covid situation in Brazil as bleak as it is reported internationally?

Yes and won't be out of the woods for a while.

President Bolsonaro took the initial Boris line that the economy could not be stopped. Nazi, Trump, yadda, yadda, but bottomline is, I thought he was right. Or at least it was one way of looking at it that required balls and steadfast commitment.

Brazil isn't a developed country, lots of people live in poverty or are on the verge of it, the amount of economic activity that can be switched to online/wfh is very limited. The death rates reported for Covid were nowhere near the magnitude of what could befall in Brazil, more so with the difficulties already in place to control criminal activity (organised and disorganised).

Problem though is Brazil is a federation like the US so each state has a governor and his own policies. With the continued polarisation, many Governors adopted policies countering those of Bolsonaro. You either play one way or the other, can't have each state doing whatever the feck they want. Some go for lockdown, others no lockdown. Extend holidays and the people you are trying to keep at home go on holidays to another state which wasn't doing badly... One state starts vaccinating by age range, another by category (healthcare, education, etc). Strangely one state vaccinates all healthcare workers first, while another prioritises public sector full stop, private sector healthcare workers can go do one. They all make it up as they go along, keeping the pulse on political convenience/outcomes, not any scientific basis, while executing half-cocked vaccination campaigns which miss 2nd doses, change the regularities, different vaccine platforms...

It's a mess and that mess has and will keep perfecting strains, which is a problem for all of us. Global village and all that.

 

[The Firestarter]

Yes and won't be out of the woods for a while.

President Bolsonaro took the initial Boris line that the economy could not be stopped. Nazi, Trump, yadda, yadda, but bottomline is, I thought he was right. Or at least it was one way of looking at it that required balls and steadfast commitment.

Brazil isn't a developed country, lots of people live in poverty or are on the verge of it, the amount of economic activity that can be switched to online/wfh is very limited. The death rates reported for Covid were nowhere near the magnitude of what could befall in Brazil, more so with the difficulties already in place to control criminal activity (organised and disorganised).

Problem though is Brazil is a federation like the US so each state has a governor and his own policies. With the continued polarisation, many Governors adopted policies countering those of Bolsonaro. You either play one way or the other, can't have each state doing whatever the feck they want. Some go for lockdown, others no lockdown. Extend holidays and the people you are trying to keep at home go on holidays to another state which wasn't doing badly... One state starts vaccinating by age range, another by category (healthcare, education, etc). Strangely one state vaccinates all healthcare workers first, while another prioritises public sector full stop, private sector healthcare workers can go do one. They all make it up as they go along, keeping the pulse on political convenience/outcomes, not any scientific basis, while executing half-cocked vaccination campaigns which miss 2nd doses, change the regularities, different vaccine platforms...

It's a mess and that mess has and will keep perfecting strains, which is a problem for all of us. Global village and all that.

Thanks for the summary. Yeah, lack of centralised approach is a huge problem when dealing with public health issues.

 

[pyro07]

I still don't understand this at all. I saw that one of their politicians begging Neymar and other high profile Brazilian players to come out against having the tournament there yet, it still seems to be going ahead? Nothing about hosting it in Brazil makes any sense.

 

[dinostar77]

BBC reporting that the european based brasilian players may pull out of Copa America due to Covid concerns. 470,000 deaths due to covid in brasil so far.

 

[SambaBoy]

I seen Casemiro saying he won't play.

I can't believe they are still trying to go ahead with it. Very few people want it to go ahead, even the players and citizens of Brazil.

 

[Charlie Foley]

This needs a new thread titled 'Copa America (doing a bad job again)'

 

[Krakenzero]

So, to summarize:

-Extraordinary "cash grab" edition
-Ecuador (who was the next in place for hosting it) was skipped
-tournament assigned to two countries that don't even have a border and maximize the miles travelled by every team.
-tournament postponed one year by COVID.
-one year later COVID numbers are still the same, plus civil unrest, police brutality and killings in one host.
-Said host asks to postpone, CONMEBOL denies and gives the whole tournament to the other host. In the meantime the US offers to host the tournament, but CONMEBOL refuses.
-13 days before the first match, the other host (which is having record COVID cases and deaths) declines. CONMEBOL evaluates the situation and decides to give the tournament to a country that's having civil unrest, police brutality, south america's record in COVID cases and in deaths.
-After declared host, most federal regions of said country refuse to host. The ministry of health advises against the Copa and the NT coach and players don't want to participate. There are now 8 days left for the tournament to begin.

García Márquez would be proud.

 

[dinostar77]

Thanks for the summary. Shocking state of affairs. Copa America is abit of a mess as usual. USA and Canada should be invited to the tournament even though they arent a member of CONMEBOL. Make it a proper americas tournament.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Hopes Messi finally wins it with Argentina.

 

[FootballHQ]

Brazil-Venezuela currently on BBC red button.

Brazil going to win this about 6-0 as massive covid outbreak in Venezuela squad.

What's the deal with Neymar never being captain of Brazil anymore? Forgot what he did but no Thiago Silva for this tournament so Casemiro gets the armband and think Marquinhos also been captain for one of the qualifiers last week.

 

[Get In Scholesy]

I hate that I’m watching this calamity of a tournament.

Hoping Brasil win it but more importantly no serious outbreaks happen throughout the tournament.

 

[TheGame]

Fred starting for Brazil.

 

[Josh 76]

Fred starting for Brazil.

Fred starting over Fabinho

 

[Vanrouge]

Fred starting for Brazil.

He played well in the first half.