In a setback for Argentine, coach Lionel Scaloni will not be leading the team against Peru in the final group stage match because of sanctions by CONMEBOL. The South American Football Confederation has banned Scaloni for one match after Argentine players took too long to return to the field during the match against Chile.
The Argentine Football Association has also been slapped with a USD 15,000 fine. CONMEBOL says the team breached articles 104 and 145 of the Copa America rulebook. It highlights that teams must be present on the field on time for kick-off and when returning from their half-time break; as per the rulebook the break is no more than 15 minutes. The association warned of a harsher punishment if the team breaks the rules again.
This isn’t the first time that Argentine has been accused of delays. In the opening match of Copa America against Canada, the Lionel Messi-led side took over 20 minutes to return to the field following the half-time whistle.
Canadian coach Jesse Marsch had called for Argentine to be fined. He accused the opponent team of looking at the video and analyzing how it wanted to play against Canada. Marsch said if the Canada team was five minutes late, it would get a fine. He believes Argentine took 20 to 30 minutes to prepare how they wanted to play against the Canadians in the second-half.
Marsch asserted that if they had known this, the Canada team would also have taken extra 10 minutes to prepare in a similar manner.
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