Colo Colo: Marcelo Espina press conference with Harold Mayne-Nicholls

The sudden suspension of the Colo Colo match against Antofagasta due to a case of coronavirus within the delegation that traveled to Brazil can be very expensive. This is because Pablo Milad, president of the ANFP, left open the possibility that they give the three points to the puma cast for secretariat.

In Black and white They were surprised by these statements and passed the ball to the governing body of Chilean soccer for the cancellation of the commitment, pointing out that if it is their opinion, they cannot consider the match lost.

“We were very surprised by what we heard today. Colo Colo did not play on Saturday because the ANFP proceeded to suspend him. It was impossible to play if the ANFP prohibited us from playing. They determined it and confirmed it through a statement. We had no problem to play. Impossible to play if the ANFP forbids us to play, they are the ones in charge “Harold Mayne-Nicholls stated at a press conference.

Along the same lines, he argued that “Neither Colo Colo nor any member of the ANFP can suspend a match, only the ANFP can. How can the person responsible for suspending the match make Colo Colo pay? We follow all the protocol and were willing to play the match . The ANFP suspends us and also punishes us. I find it to be of little football logic. If they want to send him to the disciplinary court there we will defend ourselves “.

The vice president of Blanco y Negror it calls for a lot of information to address this issue, especially from Quilín. “From my point of view, if we lose the points, it is difficult for me to understand that the ANFP suspends the game, if our players were in the dressing room. Much information has been lacking. I saw people from Antofagasta who said that we did not have the field ready for the match. warm-up, if we do it in another sector of the stadium “added.

Marcelo Espina defends the planning of the return from Brazil

Marcelo espina he aligned himself with the statements of Harold Mayne-Nicholls and pointed to the ANFP as the one in charge of suspending the match with Antofagasta. “We never requested a suspension of the match, we requested a change in schedule. There was an agreement that any team returning from international competition from abroad would schedule the next match in the national tournament in the last two hours of the day”, assured

“It is not just an oral agreement, but in the response to an email that we have. We asked to play later for a break issue and the request was not accepted. In an email on Tuesday 22 they tell us that the schedule could not be modified and we prepare to play. It is not obligatory to return the same day of the game and we returned the next day for the rest of the players. We had planned this three weeks ago “. complement.

The sports director of the institution took advantage of stating that he regretted the uncomfortable situation that the Antofagasta campus experienced, who were an hour and a half above the bus that took them to the Macul campus, but insists that this is part of the protocol already established.

“I am sorry for them that they were not to blame for a positive Covid in our delegation and we empathize. Within the protocol any team that arrives at a stadium and a positive case is known, the footballers cannot get off the bus because if not that team runs the risk of catching it. That’s why they can’t go down. It’s not that Colo Colo didn’t let them go down. It can even happen to us if a rival scores positive. “.

Finally, he defended the messy planning of the trip that had to bring them back from Brazil. “Rest was privileged, that’s why we returned on Thursday. The loss of training was more reflected in traceability due to a positive issue, not the PCR. There the issue was delayed longer. There is no more return to continue digging. We try to comply to perfection. We returned 50 people from Brazil, with two tests and one came out positive, the rest of the 49 people repeated negative “, He launched.

“We followed the protocol. We all did the PCR the next day we arrived from Brazil. Perhaps the only thing we were harmed is that those PCR prevented us from training one day, that was the only drawback. We could have done the PCR at the airport , but it is not usual, we do not deviate from the protocol. There is a response from Dr. Yáñez that is eloquent as all the procedures were performed according to the protocol “, Hill.