Brazil’s national coach Tite criticizes the organization of the Copa America and accuses Argentina of “anti-soccer”

After the bitter defeat in the final against Argentina (0: 1), Brazil’s national coach Tite sharply criticized the organization of the Copa America in his home country by the South American continental association CONMEBOL.

According to the 60-year-old, “the organization of the tournament left a lot to be desired. The seats were bad and the players were exposed to high risk. That shouldn’t happen in a big competition like this,” said Tite.

Copa America under a bad star from the start

Tite had previously received a fine of around 4200 euros after criticizing what he thought was the poor space available. In particular, he targeted CONMEBOL President Alejandro Dominguez, saying that he had organized the tournament headlong.

The Copa was not held under a good star long before the tournament actually started. Originally, Colombia and Argentina were supposed to host the tournament together. But first, Colombia had to relinquish its host role due to social and political unrest in the country. Two weeks before the start of the tournament, Argentina had to give up the sails due to the corona situation in the country.

Another cancellation of the tournament, as in the previous year, was out of the question for CONMEBOL, so Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro offered his help at short notice. Despite the extremely critical corona situation in Brazil, he brought the tournament to his country. In the final in the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, around 5000 spectators were allowed.

But not only the organizers got their fat away from Tite, also the final opponent Argentina became a target of criticism. Tite accused arch-rivals of “anti-football” after Angel Di Maria (22nd minute) took the lead 1-0. “They kept falling to claim fouls. The referee wasn’t in control of the game. Their strategy was to hack the game,” said Tite.