Seleção General Discussion, 2018 and beyond

I think the truth is that it's commercially advantageous to host extra CAs with big names around (Messi in this case). If he does win it, it's also good for exposure. So it's a money and tournament exposure move. Messi attracts a lot of global viewers and CONMEBOL wants a piece of that.

IMO the CA only started becoming more organized in the late 90s and then even more in the later in the first decade of 2000. I mean ... for Brazil R9, RC, Kaka, R10 all chose to skip the tournament at one time or another. That takes prestige out of the competition. Not sure about Argentinean players. Maybe it was a Brazilian thing. I don't think you see European players from any nation skipping the competition on purpose.

While the quality of Euro's may sometimes leave something to be desired, it's just plain simple that they have more top to medium quality teams generally speaking.

 

The government has come out and said nothing is final yet. They've laid out the conditions under which it can happen and CBF would need to negotiate with individual states for venues.

To me that press conference seemed like the government trying to minimize their involvement and reduce the impact of today's negative reactions. I have no doubt if the dust settles a little and if there are positive outcomes down the line they'll be happy to take credit.

For now, the final is in Brasília, no SP or RJ matches.

I think the best hope for the tournament to be canceled is for some sensible players to speak up and say they won't go, but I imagine that short of a Messi or Suarez/Cavani (cause I don't see Brazilian players taking this kind of initiative) other players would be afraid to be the first ones to speak up.

 

For Copa América specifically, CONMEBOL committed to fully vaccinating the teams and staff of all 10 participants. With the tournament 11 days away we know that not everyone will be fully vaccinated by the time the tournament starts. (Fully vaccinated is considered two weeks after your final dose of the vaccine, but even without that definition I don't know if everyone will be vaccinated in time for the tournament).

Additionally, the other tournaments may be going on, but they are not without problems. Teams are losing players to COVID in Libertadores and Brasileirão and the measures to reduce transmission of the disease are inconsistent and at Brazilian airports aren't as effective as they should be.

Just because one (or two or three) tournaments are going on doesn't mean that adding another is without risk. And all of that is before considering the financial costs (which won't even be offset by ticketing and/or tourism).

Now, in my opinion we shouldn't be playing any tournaments in Brazil right now (and many other places) and in fact some pundits have said the same. But we're also seeing (even as early as yesterday) some pundits engage in the tendency to label anything that is not 100% consistent as hypocrisy. Someone will criticize Copa América and later, on another show, they will spend time calling out people for not criticizing other tournaments.

Of course there are cynical reasons for, for example, Globo commentators not to criticize a tournament they broadcast, and I wish there had been more resistance to the Brasileirão and Libertadores and other tournaments. The one thing that stood out was the coach who went viral after his Copa do Brasil rant. But the criticisms of Copa América are still plenty and no less valid just because other bad decisions were made.

 

Shouldn’t everybody already be in process of getting vaccinated with the tournament being in Argentina ?

 

You would think, but:

https://globoesporte.globo.com/fute...coes-e-arbitros-brasil-define-logistica.ghtml

From the article above:

Currently six teams have received at least one dose.

Brazil has some vaccinated players already, and the current plan is to provide the others with their first dose after the Paraguay game (June 8).

 

de Arrascaeta has been replaced due to COVID.

That could potentially be very bad for Flamengo and Brazil, they have to hope he didn't give it to (or get it from) his Flamengo teammates...

If he did... we can start the countdown on the Brazil team coming down with COVID.

 

Is @benni... still around to explain to me why Fred should or shouldn't start?

 

This just popped up and is potentially huge:

Informação de @pedroernestoRS agora na Rádio Gaúcha: jogadores da Seleção Brasileira, os que atuam na Europa, atrasaram o treino de hoje no Beira-Rio, pedindo uma reunião com a comissão técnica. Motivo? não querem jogar a Copa América.

— Marcos Bertoncello (@mbertoncello_) June 3, 2021

For those who don't speak Portuguese it says players delayed the start of training and requested a meeting with the coaching staff because they don't want to play Copa America.

Who knows how that meeting went and if we'll hear more soon.

EDIT:
Tite addressed it in the press conference, I'm watching it now:



Apparently he said they are focusing on the qualifiers and he will express his opinion after the qualifiers. Right at the beginning of this video. I am still watching to see if there's more.

 

Well that's interesting ...

 

Tite nem mente nem desmente jogadores não quererem participar da Copa America. Mas disse que houve reunião com jogadores e Presidente da CBF e só vai revelar posição deles depois do segundo jogo da eliminatória.

Pra que isso ? Todo mundo já esta sabendo.

Puta enrolation esse Tite ....

 

Rogério Caboclo really digging himself deeper and deeper. Apparently he was drunk and made a speech before the game, acting as if nothing had happened, just trying to motivate the players who all avoided him and didn't react to the speech:

https://www.uol.com.br/esporte/colu...ario-causa-vergonha-em-atletas-e-comissao.htm

It's kind of a miracle that the team managed to perform yesterday and play a solid game (yes, unexciting at first, but overall dominant and with significant improvement when changes were made).

 

I actually didn't realize that this last call up didn't include the CA. That will be done after the Paraguay game. So I guess each player can make their own decision and probably have already spoken to Tite and CBF.

 

Meh .. probably not much of a "traumatic" event.