Venezuela 2007 - Copa America - Resources Page

Venue Speculation...

San Cristobal (27,500) (Group A matches)
Maracaibo (35,000) (Group B or C matches)
Puerto Ordaz (15,000) (Group B or C matches)

Caracas has Olympic Stadium (25,000) and Brigido Iriarte (15,000).

Venezuela LOC has confirmed that the host team will play their matches (their group matches, as the seed for Group A) at San Cristobal, which is the national stadium. In the past, Copa America has put all of the group matches for each group in one venue, so this may mean all Group A matches (even non-Venezuela matches) will be at San Cristobal. San Cristobal is all the way to the west of the country, in the northern Andes (although only at 2600 ft).

Brazil and Argentina will likely get the seeds for the second and third group. The speculation is that Brazil will be sent to the Maracaibo venue and Argentina possibly to Puerto Ordaz. Maracaibo is a likely pick, because of its size. Unfortunately however, Maracaibo, like San Cristobal, is near the Colombian border. Maracaibo is in the northwest of the country, just off of the Gulf of Venezuela.

Puerto Ordaz is in the east of the country, inland.

Here is a map: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ve.html

 

Thanks, Palermo. The CONMEBOL website is now saying that there may be a 4th group, increasing the number of countries from 12 to 16. So people in other threads saying that Costa Rica has the 12th spot and we are out of luck should look at this website. The red carpet is out.
Copa America will take place between June 26 and July 15, 2007, in Caracas, Maracaibo, San Cristobal, Merida, Barquisemeto, Ciudad Guyana, Puerto La Cruz and Bannas. The US always seems to be “randomly” drawn into smaller, less well-known cities, so don’t count on being in Caracas.
With all the political issues between the US and Venezuela now I would expect our national team to be safe. Venezuela is the only CONMEBOL member never to have hosted the Copa America, the oldest soccer tournament in the world. There is no way they would want to give the US an excuse to bomb or invade the country, so I would expect plain clothes police posing as street buskers and maids to be everywhere.
It is entirely possible our first game would be Wednesday, June 27, 2007, game 2 Sunday, July 1 (afternoon), game 3 on Thursday, July 5, 2007, with a quarterfinal on Sunday, July 8, 2007 (afternoon game) You could see 3 US games, missing only July 4 week and the following Monday. I think we would make it out of our group. I think Copa America is a much fairer tournament than the World Cup. That would not be hard.
Venezuela is a beautiful country. Crime is a problem, but not nearly as much as in Colombia and some cities in Brasil. The big problem is the awful airport. Most countries, no matter how poor they are, have a swanky airport. Not Caracas. The main road connecting the distant airport to Caracas was closed and finally collapsed, 2 weeks ago, causing chaos. Crews are working 24 hours a day to rebuild the old road to the city, This should be completed in a month or 2 or 3. Meanwhile thousands of people are camping out in the airport so they can make early morning flights.
Caracas is the most North American-looking city in South America. It has a lovely setting and a modern subway. My wife had her camera stolen in the first 30 seconds on the subway but after that we were more careful. A guy with a knife slit the bottom of her bag and took it. We stayed at L’Avila, in San Bernadino, a nice neighborhood not far from the city center. L’Avila used to be an estate for the Rockefeller family but they sold it long ago. The currency, the bolivar, has gone from 4.3 to the dollar to 2138 to the dollar in 30 years, so a nice place like L’Avila is luxury you can afford. We paid 68 dollars for a double room.
The food in Venezuela was great. You will be very pleasantly surprised. Ozzie Guillen’s favorite restaurant in Chicago is the Caracas Grill, at 6300 N. Western. It is a Venezuelan restaurant in an Indian neighborhood.

 

The airport is nice and shiny now,





Also the road linking the cities is finished, the whole highway should be repaired for the copa.

BTW here is a link about the stadiums

https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=280106&page=5&highlight=copa+america

 

Beer is good in Venezuela. Good, not great. “Polar” beer, often in little bottles, is widely available. You go into your local tienda (store) and ask the clerk for cerveza fria. The guy will have a key around his neck and will unlock an adjacent room where the beer is kept at 2 or 3 degrees Celsius. I have never seen beer sold like this in any other place in the world. That door is opening and closing all day long….
Food is very good. There is a big Caribbean influence so you will find fried plantains, rice and beans and other island staples on menus. A unique dish is pobellon, a shredded beef dish something like what you find in Puerto Rico

 

Do you have a link for that?

 

It's in spanish, but here is a quick translation:

All this from the Venezuelan Federation President/Copa América Org. Committee, Serafín Boutureira.

Officially Venezuela will play in San Cristóbal and will be "head-of-group"

They're speculating that Brazil will play in Puerto Ordaz and ARG in Maracaibo. But not 100% sure, just a speculation. Both also "head-of-group"

The group "draft" will happen between Dec '06 and Feb '07" and there is still a possibility of a 4th group once they confirm all 16 teams.

http://www.conmebol.com/comunicados_ver.jsp?id=58947&slangab=S

 

English link: http://www.conmebol.com/comunicados_ver.jsp?id=58948&slangab=E

 

arrrgg!!! I didn't even see the ENGLISH link!!! how dumb!!

 

Santa Ana...Will it Survive?

Venezuela’s jewel box city is Santa Ana del Coro, located about 10 hours by road to the northwest of Caracas, directly south of the islands of Curacao and Aruba. Santa Ana is about 4 hours by bus from Maracaibo, also a site for the Copa America. Santa Ana has more than 600 colonial buildings, and its combination of styles makes it unique in the world. It has been in gradual decline since its glory days 200 years ago, but now, American retirees and others are moving there. The new construction if threatening some of the charm of the old city, but for now it supposedly still has a sleepy feel. http://www.coroweb.com/
It may be worth it to fly to Santa Ana from Caracas, This would save you the 1-2 hour ride each way into Caracas and then back out again to head to the northwest. The problem is the United flight gets into Caracas at night so you would have to spend the night at the not so charming airport. There are small hotels and guest houses near the airport. We stayed in one that had bars on all the windows and the owner looked out through a peephole before unbolting the door.

 

Re: Santa Ana...Will it Survive?

when does the us have to give the final word on if they are going or not?

 

Looks like Gulati is moving this along:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=375834&root=us&cc=5901

From the end of the article:

I'm certainly not buying my plane ticket yet, but hopefully they work things out.

 

I agree with Ed’s post in the Mexico City Invasion thread that a qualifier in Mexico City is more important than the Copa America. But my guess is we will not have a qualifier in Mexico City until 2013 because we will host the 2010 World Cup. But we won’t know this until around the time of the Copa American because Herr Blatter stands for reelection in 2007 and he will not pull the plug on South Africa until after the votes are counted.
If we do get the Cup as I predict, that makes the Copa America loom even larger, because how else will we find competitive matches to get ready for 2010? Opportunities are slim. I think the Copa America is just as competitive as the Confederations Cup which we will probably host in 2009, if only because Copa America will be played in Venezuela.
President Gulati is probably struggling with the political issues of accepting the Copa America bid. Venezuela is high on the US enemies list and the US government is itching for an excuse to start trouble. Rep. Biden and former Rep Gingrich spoke with the same voice (surprise, surprise) on Meet the Press 4 weeks ago. They spoke of Venezuela in the same sentence as Iran and North Korea. The State Department may veto a US berth in Copa America no matter what President Gulati or Dan Flynn want to do.
The US blew it big time in 2005 by not accepting the invitation. Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo put the US invitation first on his agenda when he had a rare White House visit in February, 2005, personally asking for the US national team to come to Lima. Not to be. And we paid the price when we had warm-up games against Latvia and others.
I have been doing more research and hope to post as much in the way of Venezuelan Travel Trips as possible, including how to get in and out of Venezuela from all the neighboring countries..

 

If the 2010 World Cup is moved, that will likely happen after the final round of CONCACAF qualifying.

 

Andy, I don’t think FIFA can wait that long. The hex and Euro qualifying will end in early November, 2009. After that, we will have the intercontinental home and away games, followed by the draw 2 weeks later. The USSF took ticket applications 3 days after the draw in 2005, long after FIFA ticketing had started.
Phase I of FIFA ticketing will open up around September, 2009. The last 2 Cups saw fans buy TST packages for national teams only to see that their teams did not qualify in the end. Air tickets open up 330 days before the departure date, meaning a flurry of bookings starting around July 1, 2009. I don’t think FIFA can sell tickets for South Africa and then tell the faithful to pay the penalties on those tickets, we are going to hold it in the US or Australia. Relationships with travel agencies are particularly important. Ad campaigns by major sponsors, who control much of the ticketing and some of the results, are geared up well in advance. These barriers to a last minute switch are even larger than awarding the Cup to a nation that is struggling to qualify (US every time except 2006, Australia, every time).
When FIFA pulled the 1986 Cup from Colombia and gave it to Mexico, I think it was done 2 years in advance. When the IOC pulled the Winter Olympics from Denver and game them to Innsbruck, that too was done well in advance.
But FIFA has an ace in the hole that no one seems to be talking about. FIFA has quietly announced that the next Women’s World Cup will be held in 2010, NOT 2011. With less than 3 years to go no host nation has been announced. Remember 2003, when the SARS scare booted China from 2003 to 2007 and no nation except the US made a credible bid to host the WWC. I assume the US will host the 2010 WWC because, once again, I don’t see any real competition to host the WWC.
The US can quietly prepare for the 2010 WWC and much of the logistical planning, including security, will be in place ready for a second use for the World Cup. This would reduce the necessary lead time to announce a switch to the US from South Africa. I can think of endless problems with joint hosting of the WWC and World Cup but from FIFA’s point of view, it is preferable to canceling the WWC. FIFA does NOT want to cancel the WWC. Future World Cup bids may include the WWC, whether the bidding nations want it or not.

 

For the record (did some research)...

Colombian Government backed out of the 1986 World Cup in October of 1982.

By May of 1983, FIFA had selected Mexico as the fill-in. Mexico was chosen ahead of the United States and Canada. Mexico was a lock though as FIFA only did a site visit there.

Henry Kissinger, who was spearheading the US 'bid' (if you can call it that), called his first attempt at soccer diplomacy ''dismally unsuccessful.'' ''The politics of soccer make me nostalgic for the politics of the Middle East,'' he said.

 

How tough do you think it will be to get tickets to the Copa America? When would the draw be?

 

Surely US soccer will be able to get an allocation. I'd definitely prefer to sit with the handful of Americans who go. If/when they announce that we'll be participating in the tournament it may be a good idea to immediately start bugging US Soccer about getting tickets.

 

I plan on attending Copa America 2007 and am hoping to enjoy the services offered by Venezuelan prostitutes. Thomas Flannigan, please tell me, in 10,000 words or more, everything you know about the whore situation in Venezuela.

 

Wow Borat is now a member of BigSoccer

 

If they do move the Cup, they will also want to leave enough time for South Africa to qualify...last time the group phase of African qualifying started in June of 2004.

 

i'm not saying it will be like this, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me to find out that it was being moved but that South Africa would be included without qualifying and that the US still has to qualify. the second part would of course be riskier if the US ended up not making it, but with the assumption being that the US would make it, this wouldn't surprise me at all.

 

Tourists Gunned Down at Caracas Airport

The travel safety situation has deteriorated markedly in Venezuela this summer and the US State Department now warns that Venezuela has the highest per capita murder rate in the world. Two weeks ago, President Chavez made a hysterical speech claiming 4 American spies had been arrested in Valencia. The US Embassy knew nothing about this, stating that there had been an Embassy official in Valencia 1 year ago who had a camera stolen. Whatever the real story is, American missionaries are being expelled from the country and violent crime is escalating. The Canadian Foreign Office gives warnings similar to the US Department of State. These warnings are NOT subject to copyright:


http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1059.html
Violent crime in Venezuela has spiked in recent months. The country has the highest per-capita murder rate in the world. Armed robberies take place in broad daylight throughout the city, including areas generally presumed safe and frequented by tourists. Well armed criminal gangs operate with impunity, often setting up fake police checkpoints. Kidnapping is a particularly serious problem, with more than 1,000 reported during the past year alone. There have been several high profile kidnappings that have resulted in murder, including the killings of three minor Canadian brothers, a wealthy Italo-Venezuelan businessman, and the daughter of a senior Venezuelan military commander. Investigation of all crime is haphazard and ineffective. In the case of high-profile killings, the authorities quickly round up suspects, but rarely produce evidence linking these individuals to the crime. Only a very small percentage of criminals are tried and convicted.

Maiquetia Airport, the international airport serving Caracas, is dangerous and corruption is rampant. Concerns include personal property theft, muggings, and “express kidnappings” in which individuals are taken to make purchases or to withdraw as much money as possible from ATMs, often at gunpoint. The Embassy has received multiple, credible reports that individuals with what appear to be official uniforms or other credentials are involved in facilitating or perpetrating these crimes. For this reason, American citizen travelers should be wary of all strangers, even those in official uniform or carrying official identification. There are also known drug trafficking groups working from the airport. Travelers should not accept packages from any persons and should keep their luggage with them at all times.

Because of the frequency of robberies at gunpoint, travelers are encouraged to arrive during daylight hours if at all possible. If not, travelers should use extra care both within and outside of the airport. The Embassy strongly advises that all arriving passengers make advance plans for transportation from the airport to their place of lodging. If possible, travelers should arrange to be picked up at the airport by someone who is known to them. The Embassy has received frequent reports recently of armed robberies in taxicabs going to and from the airport at Maiquetia. There is no foolproof method of knowing whether a taxi driver at the airport is reliable. The fact that a taxi driver presents a credential or drives an automobile with official taxi license plates marked “libre” is no longer an indication of reliability. Incidents of taxi drivers in Caracas overcharging, robbing, and injuring passengers are common. Travelers should take care to use radio-dispatched taxis or those from reputable hotels. Travelers should call a 24-hour radio-dispatched taxi service from a public phone lobby or ask hotel, restaurant, or airline representatives to contact a licensed cab company for them.
• * *
• All Americans are encouraged to carry as little U.S. currency on them as possible upon entering Venezuela. Due to the poor security situation, the Embassy does not recommend changing money at the international airport. Visitors should bring a major credit card, but should be aware of widespread pilfering of credit card data to make unauthorized transactions. Travelers’ checks are not recommended as they are honored in only a few locations. It is possible to exchange U.S. currency at approved exchange offices near major hotel chains in Caracas (personal checks are not accepted) and at commercial banks with some restrictions. Due to new currency exchange laws hotels can no longer provide accommodation exchange. There are ATM machines throughout Venezuela, but travelers should be careful to use those only in well-lit public places. ATM data has also been hacked and used to make unauthorized withdrawals from user’s accounts.

Cross-border violence, kidnapping, drug trafficking, smuggling, and cattle-rustling occur frequently in areas along the 1,000-mile border between Venezuela and Colombia. Some kidnap victims have been released after ransom payments
The Canadian view:
http://www.voyage.gc.ca/dest/report-en.asp?country=313000#3

Women should exercise caution in dealing with strangers or recent acquaintances, and be specially careful about accepting rides or invitations to go for a drink. There have been cases of drugging followed by robbery and assault, including sexual assault. Incidents of assault, rape and sexual aggression against foreigners have been reported at beach resorts in Margarita Island. Acquaintance rape is a serious problem. In some cases, hotel workers, taxi drivers, and others have been implicated. Anyone who is a victim of a sexual assault should report this immediately to the nearest Canadian Consulate/Embassy and is strongly advised to file a report with Venezuelan authorities. Note that no criminal investigation is possible without a formal complaint to Venezuelan authorities.

Violent crime is prevalent throughout the country, including tourist and resort areas. Violence against foreigners can occur in all regions in Venezuela, both urban and rural. Crime has increased considerably, particularly in the central and poorer areas of Caracas, Maracaibo, Valencia, and Margarita Island. Pickpockets are active in crowded bus and subway stations. Ensure personal belongings and travel documents are secure, including on beaches or in parked vehicles and hotel rooms. Do not show signs of affluence. Thefts from hotel safes have been reported. City streets in central Caracas and the "Sabana Grande" area should be avoided due to a growing incidence of violent robberies. Canadians should exercise caution in the historical centre of Caracas (Plaza Bolivar), where most government institutions are located as demonstrations often take place.