Copa America: Brazilian senator calls on Neymar not to play in ‘championship of death’
Brazil has suffered more than 465,000 Covid-19 deaths – the second highest death toll in the world – and there is an ongoing investigation into it President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic.
The rapporteur of this investigation, Brazilian Senator Renan Calheiros, described the Copa America on Tuesday as a “championship of death” and called on Brazil international Neymar not to take part in the tournament.
“Neymar, do not take part in this Copa América while your friends, your relatives and your acquaintances continue to die and the vaccine does not reach our country,” Calheiros told Radio Eldorado.
“This is not the championship we have to compete in. We have to take part in the vaccination championship. In this championship you have to score goals for our score to change.
“In this rating [Impfung] we are in last place. In the ‘Death Championship’ we are in second place, with the second highest number of deaths in the world,” he added. “The Brazilian team cannot agree with this. The intensive care units and cemeteries are full. Under what conditions should we celebrate a goal for Brazil?”
READ: Brazil’s Bolsonaro regrets Covid-19 deaths but wants to host Copa America
According to the World Health Organization 60 million vaccine doses have been administered in Brazil.
The 2020 Copa América was postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic and was scheduled to be played in Argentina and Colombia from June 13 to July 10 – for the first time in the tournament’s history.
However, following protests across the country sparked by President Iván Duque’s controversial tax reform, Colombia was stripped of responsibility for the joint alignment on May 20, before Argentina followed suit on May 31.
South American soccer association CONMEBOL did not announce why Argentina was stripped of hosting the tournament, but the country is suffering from a surge in coronavirus cases, reaching an average of more than 30,000 new cases per day over seven days, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Bolsonaro announced that the Copa América would be played in Brazil’s Federal District and the states of Rio de Janeiro, Mato Grosso and Goiás, saying that all four state governors had agreed to host the tournament.
FIFPro, the global players’ union, has “serious concerns” that the Copa America is being postponed with so little preparation time and will support any players who decide it is unsafe to compete.
“The recent plan to send hundreds of football players to a tournament of such complexity at such short notice poses uncertainties for each and every one of them and their families,” FIFPro said in a statement.
“As with previous national team competitions during the COVID-19 emergency period, players must be able to prioritize their own health and that of their families without risking sanctions.”
Peru head coach Ricardo Gareca, who led the team to the final in 2019 where they lost to hosts Brazil, said it was unfair from a sporting perspective for a country to host two tournaments in a row.
“I think the whole of South America has problems,” he said at the press conference before the game against Peru. “I don’t think there is a country in South America that isn’t having problems with the pandemic.
“I don’t think the Copa América will take place in the country where it was held before, not so much because of the pandemic. The pandemic is everywhere.”
Chile, along with Ecuador and the United States, was one of the countries considered to host the Copa América after Argentina was stripped of its hosting role.
The Chilean national team won the Copa América title in 2015 and 2016, but the decision to continue hosting the tournament was not supported in many parts of the country.
Matias Walker, the representative of Chile’s fifth district, said Chile should consider not sending a team at all.
“The Chilean Football Association, the ANFP, must seriously consider whether it wants to send the national teams, the officials, the staff and the directors themselves to a long tournament in a country like Brazil, which is currently the epicenter of infections and deaths on the continent “, he said.
“And that the Bolsonaro government is an example of government irresponsibility, where new variants appear every week.”
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Those: edition.cnn.com
2023-12-28 00:57:41
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