Argentina back Uruguay players, concerned about final security - ESPN

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni said he understands the reaction of Uruguay players in entering the stands to protect their family members in the aftermath of last Wednesday's Copa América semifinal between Uruguay and Colombia.

The ugly incident in Charlotte, North Carolina, saw Uruguay players, including Darwin Núñez and Ronald Araújo, climb into the stands and clash with Colombia fans. Tournament organizer CONMEBOL later said it would open an investigation into the incident as well as the players' involvement.

This sparked a strong and passionate defense of Uruguay's players from manager Marcelo Bielsa on Friday, ahead of Saturday's third-place game against Canada. He placed the blame mostly on CONMEBOL, but also on local organizers for the lack of security.

«If you see what happened happen, and there's [no other process to escape] and they are attacking their girlfriends, their mothers, a baby, their wives, their mothers — what would you do?» he said.

Speaking to reporters ahead of Sunday's Copa América final against Colombia at Hard Rock Stadium, Scaloni called the images «very sad» and related how family members of the Argentina team faced a similar situation when crowd trouble delayed the start of a match between Brazil and Argentina at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro last November.

«When we saw family members involved, we had to rush into the locker room,» Scaloni recalled.

About Wednesday's events, he added: «The images are bad. I don't think you can blame them, seeing your family in the middle of the tumultuous situation which isn't fair. It's maddening. We need to see that.

»The players are protagonists and we ask them to be examples, but when those things happen, I don't think