Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa says players deserve apology, not sanctions after Copa America fight
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa thinks his players deserve an apology, not sanctions, for going into the stands at Bank of America Stadium and participating in a fight with Colombia fans following his team’s 1-0 Copa America semifinal loss. An angry Bielsa criticized tournament organizers for not doing enough to protect the families of players seated behind the Uruguay bench and he justified players taking matters into their own hands to protect their loved ones.
“We are in the United States, the country of security,” Bielsa said through an interpreter during an emotional 45-minute news conference Friday. “How can you not defend your mother, your sister, a baby? If they did not do it, they would have been condemned by all of us.”
CONMEBOL, South American soccer’s governing body, said Thursday its disciplinary committee opened an investigation. “It is unacceptable that an incident like this turns passion into violence,” the federation said in a statement.
Asked if he feared sanctions for his team, Bielsa grew irate.
“The sanction does not have to be for the footballers, but for those who forced them to act like this,” Bielsa said. “This is a witch hunt. It is a shame.”
Uruguay had the option of seating families in luxury boxes instead of in the crowd. The team returns to the same venue for Saturday night’s thirdplace game against Canada. While the crowd is expected to be more subdued, the same level of security is planned. A raucous crowd of more than 70,000 – the vast majority of whom were wearing Colombia’s colors – attended the match Wednesday night at the downtown Charlotte stadium, home of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC. There were only a few small patches of Uruguay fans in the crowd at the start of the game, many of them behind the team’s bench.
After an emotional and physical game that included seven yellow cards and one red, a fight broke out in the stands and drinks were thrown. Shoving and punches ensued. The melee grew in terms of the magnitude of people involved before more than a dozen Uruguay players, including Darwin Núñez, climbed a small set of portable stairs into the crowd. Bielsa said not enough precautions were in place and an emergency exit path for Uruguay fans was not provided. Many in the Uruguayan soccer association delegation got away from the fighting by climbing down onto the playing field while Mecklenburg County Police and security restored order as the stadium was cleared.