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Venezuela Copa America bosses appeal semi-final relocation |
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11:21, June 27, 2007 |
The secretary general of the 2007 Copa America, Eduadro Alvarez said on Tuesday he would appeal the decision to move July 10's Copa semi-final to Maracaibo from Caracas.
Alvarez, who is also Venezuela's Sports Minister, said he will meet on Tuesday with the representatives of the South American Soccer Federation (Conmebol), whose Saturday decision had left Venezuela's capital with only one match in the competition.
"We do not agree with this change. The national committee was not consulted," Alvarez said.
Conmebol announced its decision on Saturday, the day when Caracas re-opened its remodeled Olympic Stadium, that the venue had too little capacity to host the semi-final. Conmebol wanted a 30,000-seater stadium, but the Olympic stadium only hosts 20,000.
The replacement venue, Maracaibo's Jose Encarnacion Pachencho Romero Stadium, hosts 40,000.
"There is a great deal of financial inconvenience involved in this change," said Alvarez. "People have bought tickets and reserved flights and hotels. As well as this, the Caracas organizing committee has invested a great deal," he added. Conmebol still has time to rectify things, he added.
Alvarez is visiting San Cristobal for the first Copa game, where Venezuela will play Bolivia. He said he expects Venezuela towin 2-0.
The Copa, now in its 32nd edition, runs until July 17 in nine Venezuelan cities.
Source: Xinhua
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