RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Argentine president, Alberto Fernández, affirmed this Tuesday that, if Colombia cannot host the Copa América soccer tournament due to the social protests that the country is experiencing, Argentina can consider hosting the tournament alone, as long as compliance with the sanitary measures against COVID-19 is guaranteed beforehand.
“If they comply with all the protocols, we are willing to see the possibility of organizing it alone”, said the president in declarations to Radio 10.
The America Cup, which was to be held in 2020, was postponed to this year and is scheduled to be played from June 13 to July 10 in Colombia and Argentina.
But the protests that Colombia has been experiencing for more than two weeks, which have so far left more than 40 people dead in a context of police repression and vandalism, threaten the holding of the tournament, as many are clamoring, even in the streets, for Colombia to desist from organizing it.
Although the Colombian government has insisted that, despite everything, the country will host the Cup, the debate on possible alternatives, including Argentina hosting it alone, has taken hold in the last few weeks.
“If CONMEBOL can take charge, I am willing to study it, but I need to guarantee the protocols because one of the most serious problems we have are the strains that come from other countries,” said Fernandez on Tuesday.
Argentina is currently experiencing its second wave of the coronavirus, with a record number of daily infections and deaths.
On Monday, it became known that River Plate confirmed another five positive cases in the team, in addition to the ten already reported on Saturday, so that only a dozen players are available for Wednesday’s clash with Independiente Santa Fe in the Copa Libertadores.
“What happened at River these days shows what objectively can happen,” warned Fernandez.
“In a team that travels together in a bus and one of them is infected, the possibility of infecting everyone is very high. We have to try to guarantee protocols that make this Copa América possible, let’s be frank, it is a Copa América for TV”, he said.