The Copa America has been over for some time now, but Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo publicly expressed his doubts about the refereeing in the tournament.
Bravo stated, “There are some things that we can’t control and can’t fight against.”
Bravo pointed out, “In the first match against Peru, there were some strange decisions. When you’re competing on the field, certain calls can be very frustrating, even to the point of wanting to strangle the referee.” He continued, “In the second match against Argentina, we also saw some unusual situations.”
Bravo also mentioned his feelings watching from the bench, “In the final match, I was off the field and could observe the details more closely, seeing more of what was happening. In this situation, you feel like you can’t compete. I felt that if we hadn’t received a red card but had scored instead, the referee would have randomly awarded a penalty kick. This feeling was very strong.”
Bravo specifically questioned Colombian referee Wilmar Roldán, who officiated the Chile vs. Canada game: “When the referee allows players to say highly offensive words in front of him without any response or record, you feel very embarrassed. This is an unusual situation. For example, with that clear foul (against Rodrigo Echeverría), the referee took no action, and even the VAR system did not intervene to review it. Everyone saw it, how could it go unnoticed with technology available?”