Echoes Of The Silent Copa America 2020 Amidst Controversy And COVID-19

Ilustrasi Copa America 2021 (Twitter @conmebolmedia)

JAKARTA - The implementation of Euro 2020 and Copa America 2020 have both been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, when the time came, the echo of these two different continents competitions was never the same.

The Copa America was originally set to be held from 12 June to 12 July 2020 in Argentina and Colombia. However, on March 17, 2020, the governing body of Latin American football or CONMEBOL announced the Copa was pushed back to 2021 due to the brunt of the pandemic. UEFA's decision to postpone Euro 2020 to 2021 is a reference for CONMEBOL.

Holding this tournament in two countries is the first time this has been taken. If UEFA held Euro 2020 in dozens of cities in dozens of countries on the Blue Continent for obvious reasons to commemorate the 60th anniversary of this continental tournament, then the reason CONMEBOL held the Copa in two countries was purely political.

As reported by Antara, Tuesday, June 8, Argentina is trying to host it because it wants to make this tournament a place to promote the determination to co-host the 2030 World Cup with Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile. Given Uruguay's lack of venues, Uruguay, which is richer with representative stadiums, is partnered with Uruguay.

This ambition is based on the desire to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the World Cup, which was first held in Latin America, to be precise in Uruguay in 1930.

But Argentina's desire to host the Copa made Colombia unhappy. Supposedly 2020 is Colombia's turn to host the Copa which is usually held in rotation.

CONMEBOL then intervened. The Copa America was decided to be co-hosted by Argentina and Colombia.

After that problem, came the pandemic. This one actually creates a big change that makes CONMEBOL dizzy.

Bolsonaro and United States controversy

As it turns out, the pandemic isn't the only problem. The political crisis that sparked a wave of protests against Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez forced CONMEBOL to exclude Colombia from hosting the Copa America on May 20, 2021.

Argentina is also faced with a problem, namely the continued increase in cases of COVID-19 infection. In this country of 44.9 million people, three million people were exposed to COVID-19 and 68,000 of them died.

CONMEBOL also finally ruled out Argentina from hosting the Copa on 30 May 2021. This decision was taken just two weeks before the 2020 Copa America kick-off.

CONMEBOL is confused. Which country should host the 2020 Copa America?

No one can be considered ready except Brazil. Chile may be able to but hosting a full 28 Copa America games is too much for them.

In the end, the choice fell to Brazil, which is the host of the 2019 edition and the defending champion, even though the infection cases here are much worse than Argentina, even though Brazil was once the epicenter of the global pandemic.

In fact, the United States is the choice and is willing to hold this tournament. The problem is that the US, which is in the northern part of the continent, is not a participant in the Copa America, which is opposed by CONMEBOL because the South American football federation has been at odds with its partner, the North, Central and Caribbean soccer federation, or CONCACAF, since holding the major American continental tournament in 2016.

Brazil was also chosen because their president, Jair Bolsonaro, offered to host the Copa, despite the opposition of a large section of the population.

The politically motivated Bolsonaro said Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Goiania and Cuiaba would host all 2020 Copa America matches.

Ironically, most of the Brazilian people who have not lost their minds from the COVID-19 catastrophe that has claimed the lives of 470,000 people and at the same time infected 16.9 million people, oppose Bolsonaro's decision.

Bolsonaro is accused of insulting those who are victims of COVID-19. Criticism has also been directed at Brazilian football authorities, one of which is former player Walter Casagrande. "Since the beginning of the pandemic, the leaders of Brazilian football have only thought about themselves and money," Casagrande said.

Casemiro Against Copa America 2020

Ironically, the Brazilian football community itself criticized the decision to host the Copa America, including a number of stars who even threatened to boycott the tournament. Brazil's Casemiro has been the most vocal in criticizing the Copa in Brazil.

Casemiro said, "It's not just me (against the 2020 Copa America), not just the players who play in Europe. Everyone is against it, including Tite (Brazil national team coach)," reported Antara.

Not only Brazilian players, Latin American players also expressed the same concern.

Uruguay's Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez, as well as Argentina's Sergio Aguero also supported the boycott. The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, has threatened not to allow matches to be played if the health situation remains as it is now.

Meanwhile, bad news emerged from Europe that European clubs would not allow their Latin American players to participate in the 2020 Copa America.

But the attitude of the South American football federations is generally the same. They were determined that this tournament had to go on, no matter what.

Although controversial and the echo is not as loud as Euro 2020, this tournament still promises satisfaction for football fans everywhere. There, there are always rising stars and magical actions from star players.