Uruguay's Marcelo Bielsa rips U.S., Copa América organizers after fight
Uruguay head coach Marcelo Bielsa defended his players' involvement in clashes with Colombia fans following their Copa América semifinal match at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, before criticizing the U.S. and CONMEBOL over the organization of the competition.
Following Uruguay's semifinal loss, players could be seen climbing into the stands to fight with opposing fans. Darwin Núñez and Ronaldo Araújo were among those involved, while captain José María Giménez said the players were simply trying to defend family members.
South America soccer's governing body, CONMEBOL, has announced an investigation into the incidents, which also saw players from Colombia and Uruguay involved in a confrontation on the field after the final whistle.
"One has to speak thinking about all the threats he will receive if he speaks," an angry Bielsa said in a prematch news conference on Friday. "So, the only thing I can tell you is that the players reacted the same way any human being would.
"If you see what happened happen and there's [no other process to escape] and they are attacking their girlfriends, their mothers, a baby, their wives, their mothers -- what would you do?"
The former Leeds United manager went on to attack media coverage of the incidents.
Argentina, which will face Colombia in Sunday's final, slammed the conditions of the field at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the tournament's opening game.
"They knew seven months ago that we'd play here and they changed the field two days ago," Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni said following that game. "It's not an excuse, but this isn't a good field. Sincerely, the field is not apt for these players."
CONMEBOL defended the conditions of the fields following the criticism, saying that the process of installing the temporary pitches for Copa América started a year ago and that "aesthetics can give the wrong perception."
Eight of the stadiums used for the Copa América are sites of the 2026 World Cup, and renovations have been planned allowing for the larger fields in two years. For the World Cup, FIFA usually takes control of the stadiums about a month in advance.
"They've said that the pitches are in perfect condition and all the lies they have said here, doing a press conference to say that the pitches are perfect and you see how the grass patches won't work. And they said the training facilities are perfect, but Bolivia couldn't train and I have pictures to prove that it's all lies, this is a plague of liars," Bielsa added.
"And then we speak -- even if I already said everything I promised myself I wouldn't say -- and there are threats. Scaloni spoke once, he dared to say that the union on the grass wasn't proper, which are all known mistakes.
"The Americans won't tell you, 'I'll give you a perfect pitch,'" Bielsa continued. "They'll tell you, 'I'll give you a pitch put together three days ago,' and the joints between grass patches don't fit together.
"Look for a play on yesterday's game inside the box and you'll see how the ball double-taps and it's because of that. And the training facilities were a disaster and Bolivia couldn't train but they said, 'It's fine, it's Bolivia.'
"Then the penalty for Brazil and all the injustices with the lower classes of the competition, they say nothing about that. And then you get the referees being accused by the president of the federation saying they didn't call a penalty for Brazil knowing how that conditions the next game, you know how this all is."
Uruguay is set to play the match for third place against Canada at Bank of America Stadium on Saturday night.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Popular Reads
ABC News Live