Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa blasts Copa América organizers after brawl: ‘Plague of liars’

Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa lashed out at the “plague of liars” running the 2024 Copa América on Friday, two days after his team’s semifinal against Colombia ended with a brawl in the stands involving players and fans.

At a fiery, extraordinary news conference, Bielsa criticized the lack of security provided to Uruguayan families; argued that his players were “obligated” to climb into the crowd to protect their loved ones; and said that post-brawl punishments should not be for the players, “but rather for those who forced them to act how they acted” — tournament organizers.

And Bielsa didn’t stop there. He blasted the patchy, temporary grass fields laid down for this Copa América, which is being hosted by 14 stadiums across the United States.

He also said the “training fields were a disaster.”

He suggested that Bolivia had been unable to train because one pitch was so bad.

He said that Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni, who blasted the quality of the field at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on opening night, had been “threatened” and told not to speak out again. (At multiple news conferences since, Scaloni has indeed declined to discuss the state of fields when asked.)

Bielsa noted that U.S. authorities, such as those in charge of the stadiums, have “responsibility” for some of this, but “they have not lied,” Bielsa said.

He instead directed most of his criticism at CONMEBOL, the South American soccer confederation primarily in charge of (and primarily profiting from) the tournament. “They say that the pitches are perfect, and — all these lies that they have told!” Bielsa ranted, gesticulating furiously.

At one point, he cut himself off, and acknowledged: “I’m saying everything I promised I wouldn’t say.” But he couldn’t hold back.

He’d been asked by a reporter whether he feared that his players who fought with fans would be sanctioned for their roles in the melee. “The players reacted like any other human being would,” Bielsa responded as he grew angry. He said that their families had no escape route. “And if you see your woman, or your mother, or a baby, being attacked, what would you do?”

“What you should be asking me,” he continued, “if you had [an ounce] of sympathy, is if the players have received an apology from those who are responsible for caring for every single spectator.”

He later said: “All of this is a witch hunt.”

He then used the platform, and his triggered anger, to rip other aspects of the tournament. He accused CONMEBOL — which has opened an investigation into Wednesday’s post-match brawl — of treating prestigious teams like Brazil and “lower-class” teams differently.

He said that the organization of the tournament in general “hasn’t been professional.”

“All of this is an embarrassment,” he said at one point mid-rant. “An embarrassment.”