To no one's surprise, Sergio Jaude revealed that the tournament's logistics were designed to inconvenience Argentina and Brazil and to give the home team an advantage
Ten years after the 2015 Copa América, Sergio Jadue, former president of the National Association of Professional Football (ANFP) of Chile, made statements that reignited the controversy surrounding the organization of that tournament. On the podcast Campeones, no finalistas, he broke his silence and asserted that the host team was favored from the planning stage of the event.
"We made Argentina travel across Chile from La Serena, passing through Viña del Mar, we took them to Concepción and brought them back to Santiago. Argentina traveled a lot in that cup," Jadue stated, referring to the logistical design that, according to his words, aimed to wear down the team then led by Gerardo Martino.
Argentina fue una de las más perjudicadas en la Copa América 2015
The statement was interpreted as a direct admission that there was a deliberate attempt to inconvenience the Argentine team, which reached the final after traveling to several locations in the country.
Jadue also referred to the journey of Brazil and the weather conditions they faced: "Brazil was sent to the south, in a harsh Chilean winter, then played at night, in the cold," he said. Unlike them, he explained that the team led by Jorge Sampaoli barely moved. "They traveled five or six kilometers (3 or 4 miles) for each match," he declared, thus suggesting a beneficial treatment for the host team.
Brasil fue otro de los que tuvo viajes largos
"A Copa América was organized to win it. No detail was spared to achieve it," said the former official, currently residing in Miami. "We didn't want to organize the typical Copa América again, excellent, well organized for everyone," he added.
Jadue, who resigned in 2015 in the context of the FIFA corruption scandal and later acted as a collaborator in the case known as FIFA Gate, justified this strategy as a kind of historical reparation: "One hundred years of defeats, of moral victories, had to end."
