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Argentina did not take their 2-0 loss against Brazil in the semifinal at the 2019 Copa America on Tuesday so well. The Argentine Football Association (AFA) wrote to the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) to protest over some of the controversial calls by referees in the game.
The AFA also posted the following content on Twitter: "We saw the same thing as you. Thanks to our players for their unconditional effort."
Argentina's anger mainly came from failure of the video assistant referee (VAR) to help the referees find two fouls that could have led to penalty kicks in the game. The first time was when Nicolás Otamendi was knocked over by Arthur Melo in the penalty area; the second time took was when Sergio Agüero got taken down by Daniel Alves in the penalty area, which happened right before Brazil's second goal.
Lionel Messi #10 of Argentina talks to referees in the semifinal of the 2019 Copa America at the Estßdio do Mineirão, July 2, 2019. /VCG Photo
Argentina were convinced that both could have been game-changing penalty kicks if the VAR let the referees know what had happened – after all, the only lost by two.
Lionel Messi, captain and Argentina star, was furious about the game. "They were not better than us. They found the net early and the second goal came from a penalty they didn’t award. The officiating was crazy. There were clear penalties, on Nicolas Otamendi, on Sergio Agüero,
He (the referee) was on their side. In every divided ball or dispute, he inclined the pitch their way. It’s not an excuse, but the truth is that, in this Copa, they kept on blowing for stupid things, for handballs, penalties. But today, they didn’t even go to VAR when there were clear plays that should have been looked at," said Messi.
Jair Bolsanaro (C), president of Brazil watches the semifina between Brazil and Argentina at the 2019 Copa America at the Estßdio do Mineirão, July 2, 2019. /VCG Photo
CONMEBOL soon responded. According to Goal.com, the South America soccer governing body confirmed that there were problems with the VAR system before the Brazil vs. Argentina game. According to Globo Esporte, the radio frequencies of the security team of Brazilian President Jair Bolsanaro who was watching the game at the stadium coincided with the frequencies used by the referees to communicate with the VAR team. However, the CONMEBOL insisted that the problems had been fixed before the game so the VAR was working normal.