Following Marcelo Bielsa’ sensational rant, the Uruguay FA have stood by their players after Darwin Nunez was involved in a mass brawl following Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat to Colombia
Darwin Nunez has been heavily defended by the Uruguayan FA after he was involved in a mass brawl following Wednesday’s Copa America semi-final defeat to Colombia.
Nunez was punched and kicked by rival fans after he and several members of the Uruguay national team jumped into the stands to defend family members, after their section was stormed by Colombia supporters. Head coach Marcelo Bielsa slammed US Soccer, the CONMEBOL federation, and Copa America organisers in a fiery press conference, and now the FA has published a detailed statement.
“The Uruguayan Football Association, given the publicly known events that occurred during the CONMEBOL Copa America semi-final match between Uruguay and Colombia, wishes to make the following comments,” the statement read. The Uruguayan delegation, present in the United States for more than a month, has been carrying out its activity in an exemplary manner, both in its personal and group attitude and in its public statements.
“Respect for the organization, rivals, journalism, security personnel and the general public has been constant, strictly complying with the rules of the tournament based on the traditional values of our country. On Wednesday, under a context of verbal violence, provocations and various attacks that affected all the Uruguayan fans who attended the match in different sectors, a group of Uruguayan fans, located behind the substitutes’ bench and the technical area, were involved in various skirmishes that escalated in temperature until triggering situations in which several families of players and staff members of our team ended up involved.
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“Faced with such a situation, and in the context of moments of nervousness and desperation in which women and children were held hostage, several players went up to the stands to intercede for their protection and defence. It is notable that this event occurred in a context in which the proportion of Uruguayan fans was very minority, mostly families, and there were not sufficient security mechanisms for this situation.
“Given these facts, and the lack of security mentioned, it was inevitable and natural the attitude of the players. Once the match was over, all the people involved in the events were evacuated with the collaboration of the authorities, but not before several of them were treated by the health services of the Uruguayan Football Association, which yesterday issued a medical report.
“Regarding the situation experienced in one of the booths where some leaders of the Uruguayan delegation and other fans who accompanied it were located, we must clarify that throughout the match that sector received hostility from the fans who were located adjacent to the just as they did against another group of Uruguayans who were a few meters from their location once the match ended. In this context, regrettable exchanges of attacks took place that we strongly condemn and that will be the subject of analysis on our part without prejudice to the sanctions that may apply to our institution based on the open files.
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“This Association, in its 124 years of existence, proudly privileges the maximum respect for the norms of citizen conduct. banishing all acts of violence in sports. Unfortunately, the events reported, which violated the healthy concept of family in a framework of lack of protection, generated an unjustified but humanly understandable reaction.”
Bielsa strongly defended his players and claimed they ‘acted as humans’ after seeing their families targeted, and Uruguay defender Jose Maria Gimenez gave an emotional interview once the situation de-escalated. Gimenez slammed the lack of organisation and security presence, which left players, their families, and members of staff in danger.
Both the Uruguay national team and their FA are unanimous in their feelings towards the situation, and are making their feelings clear out of self defence and also to inspire change. Uruguay face Canada in the third-place match on Sunday, while Colombia play Argentina in Sunday’s final, where heightened police presence is expected as both teams have the largest fan bases from all CONMEBOL nations who reside in the United States.