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The new format of the South American Cup did not like at all to the Chilean clubs. Unlike this year, in the next edition the four national representatives will have to eliminate each other before accessing the group stage. They will face each other in direct braces and only the two winners will be able to continue in competition, while Brazil and Argentina, for example, will have at least six participants in the group zone.
For Victoriano Cerda, vice president of Huachipato, a club that participates in the Sudamericana 2020, this change in format is a setback for Chilean soccer, for which he blames the ANFP chaired by Pablo Milad in part. “It is incredible this has happened. This year we have four Chilean teams that passed the first phase of the South American Cup, which will be joined by six Brazilian clubs and six Argentine clubs. Next year, as a result of the reform carried out by Conmebol and approved by the ANFP, there will be only two Chilean teams that will pass the first phase, while the six quotas that Brazil has and the six that Argentina has remain unchanged ”, he warns.
Spanish Union agrees. “It complicates me, in general terms, that there is no more sense of participation from the other countries on the part of Conmebol. I would like to know what is happening with the Chilean leaders. It bothers me quite a bit. I want to know if they were considered or not, if they participated or not. Here, clearly, there is a prejudice “, says Luis Baquedano, Hispanic general manager.
Deportes Antofagasta participated in the previous edition. Currently, the good campaign in the National Tournament has the Pumas in South American positions. For its president, Jorge Sánchez, the new system is not favorable. “Obviously, this format hurts Chilean soccer. This is an ‘international cup’. It is unusual that they are eliminated between clubs in the same country ”, he claims.
Lorenzo Antillo follows the same line. “Is incredible. They took two places from us without any disgust, but the Brazilians and Argentines keep theirs. That’s what bothers me the most. This is a tremendous setback for Chile. This is a reflection of a very great loss of power by Chile in Conmebol. No one from the ANFP has given us an explanation in this regard. We only found out through a circular from Conmebol sent by the ANFP. It is light weight and little handling. That deference that they were supposed to have with the clubs does not exist“, accuses the helmsman of Audax Italiano, who is also participating in the current Sudamericana.
Cerda also refers to what he considers to be a low power of the ANFP in the South American Confederation. “Chilean soccer has less and less weight in Conmebol and on the continent. All the advancements that had previously existed have been erased at a stroke. The worst thing is that it is communicated to us by means of a circular, as if this were something reasonable or good for Chilean football. It seems to me that there are some beardless people who cannot understand how unfortunate has happened here and they pretend to present resounding setbacks as advances like the one we are witnessing here, ”he shoots, annoyed.
“I don’t know if Chile has little weight or not. The funny thing is that this new format benefits Brazil and Argentina, but to be approved it must have had the votes of the other federations, ”says Sánchez, the boss of Antofagasta.
For Baquedano, the convulsed months that have been lived at the political level in the ANFP have damaged the influence of Chilean soccer. “I think with this matter of the changes of directory we have been losing force. This change in format should not have happened or at least it should have been reconsidered ”, concludes the Santa Laura executive.
