Lionel Messi conspiracy claims forged a cloud over Copa America

RIO DE JANEIRO — It is not in regards to the purple card. It is about what Lionel Messi mentioned and did after Argentina’s win over Chile to safe third place within the Copa America.

“We do not have to be a part of this corruption [and] the shortage of respect they confirmed us all through this match,” he mentioned, snubbing the post-match medal ceremony. “Sadly, the corruption, the referees, they do not permit individuals to get pleasure from soccer.”

“I believe the cup is fastened for Brazil,” he added. “I hope VAR and the referees don’t have anything to do on this ultimate and that Peru can compete, as a result of they’ve the staff to take action, though I believe it is tough.”

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These are heavy phrases raining down like boulders on CONMEBOL, critical accusations that transcend Messi’s frustration at a purple card for squaring as much as Gary Medel which, frankly, appeared harsh. This is not one thing he yelled after he was despatched off. Greater than an hour-and-a-half had handed when he principally accused organizers of “fixing” the match and lashed them with the “c” phrase: corruption.

Messi will doubtless get a ban for the purple card, which suggests his subsequent sport for Argentina can be on the 2020 Copa America (assuming he looks like coming again), and he might effectively face additional sanction for his post-match feedback. If there’s a silver lining to this, it is that Messi’s feedback would possibly put to relaxation the idiotic notion that he “would not care” as a lot about Argentina as he does for Barcelona.

Messi was livid with the refereeing within the semifinal and third-place sport of the Copa America however CONMEBOL did themselves no favors in letting confusion rule. Alexandre Schneider/Getty Pictures

In fact, he wasn’t simply referring to occasions in Sao Paulo on Saturday. Like many, he was incensed at the truth that VAR wasn’t utilized in two potential penalty incidents (Arthur on Nicolas Otamendi and Dani Alves on Sergio Aguero) within the semifinal in opposition to Brazil, which Argentina misplaced 2-Zero. The Argentine FA wrote two letters of grievance to CONMEBOL, the second of which requested that audio of the dialog between the referee, Ecuador’s Roddy Zambrano, and the lead VAR official, Leodan Gonzalez of Uruguay.

That is the place CONMEBOL did not assist themselves, as they did not instantly launch the audio and even transient the media as to what occurred. There are solely three potential explanations and every has fueled all kinds of conspiracy theories. One is that the VAR alerted Zambrano to the incidents and requested him for an on-field overview, however he refused and ordered play to proceed. One other is that the VAR advised him his preliminary intuition was right: there was no foul, and that play ought to go on. And the third is that VAR communication wasn’t working in any respect.

Within the first occasion, Zambrano is clearly at fault. Within the second, it is the VAR’s fault. Within the third situation, effectively… Both method, CONMEBOL might simply have make clear this. That they did not solely threw extra lighter fluid on the hearth, fueling all kinds of conspiracy theories.

And what is the upshot right here? They’ve one of many best gamers of all time, and unquestionably the best participant within the Copa America, accusing them of corruption. Intelligent transfer, eh? On prime of that, they now principally need to take motion in opposition to Messi as a result of if they do not, it units a harmful precedent: anybody can accuse anyone else of being corrupt and get away with it. (And it is not as if they are going to say “Guess what Leo, you are proper, we did repair it for Brazil. Sorry! However the excellent news is we can’t need to ban you…”

Giving him an extra ban means he’ll miss a pair group video games on the subsequent Copa America, assuming he has calmed down sufficient to need to play, which additional hurts subsequent yr’s match.

Referees make errors. If Zambrano or the VAR made the error, allow them to admit it and transfer on. Expertise fails. If that is what occurred, or if someone by chance pulled a plug or if — this was the wilder concept — the safety staff of Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro by chance (or on objective?) interfered with the VAR communications, then say it. Stuff occurs.

As a substitute, CONMEBOL are left with Messi’s accusations and a toxic cloud hanging over their showcase match. It did not have to be this fashion.