Maybe We Just Shouldn't Do the Copa América
The players don't want it. The people don't want it. The corporations don't want it. What are we doing here?
I know that many of you are looking straight toward the Euros and not really giving the Copa América much thought (because you’re wrong), but let’s talk about those things, because all indications given lead me to one burning question: why is this thing still happening?
You may recall that originally, the Copa América to be played this year with Colombia and Argentina as co-hosts. That is no longer happening because of wide-ranging protests in Colombia over taxes and generational inequality (which you can read more about right here), some of which have turned violent and revealed widespread abuse by Colombian police. The idea for the entirety of the tournament to take place in Argentina was also quickly shut down thanks to a surge in Covid-19 cases in May that was Argentina’s worst since the pandemic began, recording numbers breaching 20,000 and 30,000 new cases a day at it’s worst.
Where to go from there? Clearly, the answer was Brazil, where everything is just fine, president Jair Bolsonaro will have you know, despite a growing movement to remove him from office over his gross mishandling of the pandemic (here’s a more in-depth story on that, including a mind-boggling inclusion that Pfizer reached out to Brazil about providing vaccines for the country, and the Brazilian government did not respond to them for two months). Brazil is also still experiencing somewhere in the ballpark of 2,000 new Covid cases a day. So, again, why is this thing still happening?
The defending champs and the team that stands to benefit most from a World Cup held in Brazil, …Brazil, doesn’t want it to happen. Their head coach doesn’t want it. Some of their highest profile players don’t want it. These revelations were so concerning to CONMEBOL that they asked President Bolsonaro to do something about this, and he tried to arrange a meeting with the captains of all the teams that are scheduled to participate in the Copa. None of them showed up.
You want to know just how bad it is? The corporations are trying to wash their hands of it, too. Mastercard just dropped their name off of the tournament, something which probably cost an ungodly amount of money to put onto the tournament’s name in the first place. Ambev (now part of Anheuser-Busch) has also dropped as a sponsor. These mega-corporations typically do not care about anything other than making money. Which means they see the potential negative impact and publicity of holding the tournament as a far greater risk than the costs they’ve already sunk into the tournament to be sponsors in the first place and the possibly marketing visibility of having your name plastered on one of the most popular tournaments that occurs in the most popular sport in the world. Do you have any idea how bad their own internal projections must be in order to come to that decision? And yes, there is a possibility that I’m underselling these two company’s humanitarian concerns, but when it comes to companies of this size, my rule of thumb is to trust their desire to make money above all else. If they’re gone, there is really no way this tournament should be happening. Period.
And yet! The Copa América is due to begin next week in Brazil. Squads are being named. CONMEBOL seems to be satisfied with Bolsonaro and Brazil’s preparations for the event. It seems for all the world to be the organizational equivalent of lemmings racing each other to the cliff’s edge, but it is still at this time, moving forward to a South American championship. One that nobody really wants, one that is actively dangerous to its participants and the people on the ground tasked with putting it together who the organizers will never see or really care about, one that seems so toxic that sponsors don’t want anything to do with it.
That tournament kicks off on Sunday. Allegedly.
Stream Schedule
Still more streams for you to check out this weekend! We’re tuning in for some serious Euro 2020 action.
And, if you’re so inclined, join us for our Euro Fantasy Challenge, hosted by the one, the only, the United fan, Chike Nwoye.
Big Six Recieve MASSIVE 3 Million Pound Fine
For reference, just in terms of transfer fees, none of the Premier League’s Big Six spent less than 90 million dollars last season. Chelsea spent over 250 million by themselves.
So I’m sure this will really show them!
Watch Brenden Aaronson Do This Five More Times
Bruh.
CONCACAFing Intensifies
The final round of qualifying for the Octagonal World Cup qualifying tournament, which we are hereby naming CONCACAF: The Ocho, is upon us, with three more spots to gain and six teams left trying to get them.
Canada is the big name here, with a team full of young stars trying to lead Canada’s men’s program to their first World Cup since 1986, the only time the men’s team has qualified for the tournament. They face stiff competition from Haiti in their two-legged play-off.
Elsewhere, the big underdogs still alive are St. Kitts and Nevis, who topped their group after shocking performances from Trinidad and Tobago saw the Soca Warriors eliminated. They’ll take on El Salvador in their play-off, while one of the other impressive sides from the 2019 Gold Cup, Curacao, takes on Panama. It all starts this weekend.
Goal of the Day
Lol. Gotcha. Have a great weekend.