By Samindra Kunti
June 2 – Brazil has confirmed Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Cuiaba and Goiania as the host cities for the 2020 Copa America in a fortnight’s time after both Argentina and Colombia were stripped of the hosting only for Jair Bolsonaro and Brazil, one of the epicenters of the global health crisis, to step in at the eleventh hour.
From the quartet, Goiania is the only city to not have hosted 2014 World Cup matches, but with the tournament shifted to Brazil at the last minute organising decisions have been haphazard with the Brazilian government, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) and Conmebol trying to fast-track the event organisation.
However some major Brazilian states, including Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco and Bahia, have refused to be a part of what critics see as a real health danger to a country that has been ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic. Matches, however, will be staged behind closed doors.
Conmebol’s decision to switch the tournament from Argentina, relieved of hosting duties due to a spike in coronavirus cases, to Brazil, where the pandemic has been out of control was met with astonishment and disbelief. Brazilian president Bolsonaro, who for eight months refused to buy Pfizer vaccines but green lighted the staging of the tournament in a matter of hours, has vigorously defended his decision to host the tournament. Brazil has the second most deaths from Covid-19 in the world.
“As far as it is up to me, and all the ministers, including the health minister, it is all decided,” said Bolonaro. “From the beginning I have said about the pandemic: I regret the deaths, but we have to live.”
In the past 12 months, organisers of the Copa America have navigated a set of major setbacks. The tournament had to be postponed for a year because of the health pandemic and both invitees Australia and Qatar withdrew from the continental tournament as participation in re-arranged Asian qualifiers presented calendar clashes. On the streets of original co-hosts Colombia social unrest erupted before Argentina saw a surge in Covid-19 cases.
With the late relocation, Brazil will host the tournament back-to-back. In 2019, the hosts dominated the tournament, eliminating Argentina in the semi-finals before breezing past Peru in the final. But the back-room staff of the Selecao have reportedly been upset about the lack of communication by the CBF to the outside world, leaving the team in the firing line of criticism about the decision to move the tournament to Brazil.
The Brazilians first hosted and won the tournament in 1919. A year earlier, the local government had decided to postpone the competition because of the Spanish flu. That history lesson clearly bypassed Jair Bolsonaro.
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