CARACAS, Venezuela: Copa America organizers have decided to change the site of a July 7 quarterfinal match to the city of Puerto La Cruz in eastern Venezuela. The match originally was scheduled to be played in southwestern Barinas, the home state of President Hugo Chavez. Eugenio Figueredo, vice president of CONMEBOL, decided after a visit to La Carolina stadium in Barinas that its seating capacity was "insufficient to accommodate a match of this nature," CONMEBOL spokeswoman Zaidi Goussot said in a statement Tuesday. The La Carolina stadium, where the United States and Paraguay will face off in the first round on July 2, is being expanded to accommodate a crowd of 27,500. The new site for the quarterfinal in Puerto La Cruz can hold a crowd of 40,000 The sudden change has raised some questions about why CONMEBOL allowed the match — originally scheduled to be played in Maracaibo's 40,000-capacity Jose Encarnacion Romero stadium — to be shifted to Barinas in the first place. The Venezuelan government has spent at least US$1 million (€750,000) to construct two new stadiums, remodel seven others, and renovate airports and surrounding areas for the tournament, which is being hosted in Venezuela for the first time from June 26 to July 15. But the projects have suffered from delays due to labor disputes and problems with bonus payments to workers. Source- http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/13/sports/LA-SPT-SOC-Copa-America-Venue.php I haven't seen anything on the copa america website confiming this as of yet though, but surely some people would of already got tickets to go to the match in Barinas? What would happen to them?
Everything I've read so far says that the quarterfinal game will be in Puerto La Cruz (much better city, by the sea) What????? http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=393064&no=346008&rel_no=1 The Chavez administration has invested approximately US$700 million to build new stadiums and upgrade others. And that doesn't include some other projects, like the bridge that is being replaced in Caracas on the way to airport that is going to be finished in 1-2 weeks.