Home comforts to provide incentive for Euro ’20 teams Argentina humiliated by Copa final fiasco
To celebrate 60 years, Uefa is giving 12 countries the chance to host games at the next tournament Anger builds over second-leg clash being staged in Spain, the home of their coloniser
The first ever Copa Libertadores final between Argentina’s two most popular clubs was supposed to be the “match of the century” and a football festival that would propel the country back into the spotlight following yet another World Cup debacle.
Well, Argentina are back in the spotlight but for all the wrong reasons and the decision to play the twice-postponed “superclasico” final second leg between Buenos Aires arch-rivals River Plate and Boca Juniors in Spain, the homeland of Latin America’s colonisers, is a painful humiliation.
All over social media, the prestigious competition – the most important club tournament in South America – has been rechristened the “Copa Conquistadores de America”.
In one meme on social media there is a picture of Christopher Columbus landing in South America to initiate the European colonisation of the Americas and holding aloft the Copa Libertadores trophy, whereas he is usually depicted with the flag of Spain’s Catholic monarchs, Queen Isabella of Castille and King Ferdinand II of Aragon.
“It’s as if we weren’t allowed to dance the tango. We’re destroying football,” lamented Gustavo Alfaro, the coach of Argentine team Huracan. “We don’t want hooligans or complicit authorities. They’ve no right to take River-Boca away from us.”
For the first time, a Copa Libertaodres final will be played outside the continent, with Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium picked as the unlikely venue. It all came about because last weekend the second leg clash at River’s Monumental stadium – the first leg finished 2-2 at Boca’s Bombonera ground – was called off after Boca players were injured when their team bus came under attack from rivals’ fans.
Windows were shattered, spraying players with broken glass while police fired tear gas to disperse the troublemakers, but that entered the team bus and left Boca’s footballers suffering from smoke inhalation.
Boca refused to play the match and it was postponed 24 hours, only to then be called off indefinitely the next day.
Boca petitioned South American football’s governing body Commebol to be awarded the trophy but that was rejected. Conmebol, which is headquartered in Paraguay, decided Argentina was in no fit state to host such an important match and ordered it played elsewhere.
“Why did they accept so easily that this match wouldn’t be played in Argentina?” asked analyst Alejandro Wall on the Tiempo Argentina website.
“What they’re doing is stealing from Argentine football. And those who are punished are the 60,000 people who waited” in the Monumental stadium.
For the first time 12 nations will head into the qualifying draw for Euro 2020 with the extra incentive of playing on home soil should they make it to the 24-team tournament in two years time.
Amsterdam, Baku, Bilbao, Bucharest, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, Glasgow, London, Munich, Rome and Saint Petersburg are the 12 cities that will host matches across the continent to celebrate the 60th anniversary since the first European Championships was held.
The draw in Dublin will see Uefa’s 55 nations split into 10 groups with the top two in each section making up the first 20 teams to qualify.
However, a maximum of two of the host nations can be paired together in each group to give all 12 the chance of experiencing a home tournament with a guarantee of at least two home games in the group stages.
England stand to gain most from home advantage with both semi-finals and the final, as well as three group games and a last-16 tie set to be played at Wembley.
The Three Lions have enjoyed arguably their best year since winning the World Cup on home soil in 1966 as Gareth Southgate’s side reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in Russia and then beat Spain and Croatia to reach the inaugural finals of the Nations League next summer.
Southgate is aware of the extra inspiration of playing in a major tournament at home as he was part of the England side who reached the semi-finals of the 1996 tournament.
“What the players are going to experience is close to what we experienced in 1996 and in ’66. That’s incredible for everybody,” the England manager said.
The Wembley factor could be key to ending England’s half-century without winning a major tournament with Southgate’s exciting young squad having renergised a nation’s support.
“I think the most pleasing thing of the year has been the connection with the fans and being able to share brilliant experiences with them,” added Southgate after exacting some measure of revenge for defeat by Croatia in the World Cup semi-finals in a thrilling Nations League group finale last month.
“I can’t remember the new Wembley like that. We have exciting players that give them excitement,” he said.
England, Switzerland, Portugal and the Netherlands are guaranteed to end up in a five-team group to free them up from qualifiers for the Nations League finals in June.
World champions France, Belgium, Croatia, Italy, Poland and Spain make up the rest of the top seeds, as Germany’s relegation from their Nations League group with the French and Dutch means they slip into pot two.
After also crashing out at the first hurdle at the World Cup for the first time in 80 years, Germany coach Joachim Loew needs to bounce back in qualifying with Munich host to five matches, including a quarter-final.
But Loew has no doubt the four-time world champions will qualify.
“Of course we would have wished for a different set-up for the draw, but we face the situation and accept it,” the under-fire manager added.
“I’m looking forward to next year. We have a team with good prospects and we’ll qualify for the European Championships.”
For those who fail to qualify in the top two of their group, there may still be the safety net of a play-off via the Nations League.
The final four places will be decided in a semi-final and final between the top four sides from the four tiers of the Nations League that do not qualify automatically in March 2020.
Portugal are the defending European champions.