Uruguay boss Marcelo Bielsa blasts CONMEBOL, USA, for Copa America scuffle involving Darwin Nunez

Uruguay boss Marcelo Bielsa has blasted the USA and CONMEBOL over Copa America 2024, as well as the measures in place intended to make tournament succeed.

After the conclusion of their semifinal loss to Colombia this week, La Celeste's Darwin Nunez and Ronald Araujo were pictured in the stands in a scuffle with supporters of Los Cafeteros.

Bielsa defended his squad, claiming the security measures in place were not sufficient for a tournament of this stature.

Video replays showed Nunez in an altercation with Colombia fans, with punches thrown, while Araujo was also included in the event. It occurred after supporters of Los Cafeteros entered the "family" section of Uruguay players.

Bielsa came to the defense of the Nunez, despite reports of potential disciplinary action.

Condemning the incident, the UFA said: "This event took place in a context in which the proportion of Uruguayan fans was very small. Most of them were families, and there were insufficient security measures in place.

"Given these facts, the players' behavior was inevitable and natural," as the statement also noted that they also "strongly condemned" the aggression of the incident.

"One has to speak thinking about all the threats he will receive if he speaks," an angry Bielsa noted in a news conference in advance of Uruguay's Copa America third-place match with Canada. "So, the only thing I can tell you is that the players reacted the same way any human being would..

"If you see what happened happen and there's [no other process to escape] and they are attacking their girlfriends, their mothers, a baby, their wives, their mothers -- what would you do?"

The La Celeste boss added, "Are you asking if there's going to be sanctions to the ones that went to defend? It's a level of complicity, because the questions also act as a way to accomplice, I don't know if all of you think the same way, if the question you ask wouldn't be made by someone else, but this is what you journalists should be saying, not what I should be saying, with the risk of opening my mouth.

"When you see that there's an overreaction, when you see a violent action, of course no one is going to be in favor of a violent reaction. But the first thing you have to see is what are they reacting to? And if there was any other way to do it differently, and you all know this, but you want us on this side to open our mouths about it so it's not you who point what happened and then are affected in any way."

Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni voiced support for Bielsa and Uruguay, claiming he has experienced similar situations, and believes that Nunez and co. were doing the right thing given the situation.

Additionally, the coach added that he hopes this storyline doesn't overshadow the Copa America final Sunday between Argentina and Colombia.

“I’d like to also clarify what happened in the match between Uruguay and Colombia, in relation to tomorrow’s final,” Scaloni said. “Tomorrow should be a celebration about the joy of playing for a title. I believe it’ll be a celebration for all of us. The images (from Uruguay-Colombia) were very sad and I think anyone in that situation would have acted in that way.

“We lived through something similar at the (Estadio) Maracana when we saw our family members in the stands and we moved them into the dressing room. Those were ugly scenes. I don’t know if there’s someone to blame but to see your family in the middle of a fracas, anyone would’ve felt desperate. We have to consider that, because the players, we ask them to be the main attraction. We ask that they be present and that they be role models.

“But when that happens I don’t know many people who would have acted differently. I think any normal person would have acted the way those (players) did. I honestly feel like the both the Argentine and Colombian fans should celebrate tomorrow’s event. The family members from both teams will be there and we can’t be thinking about something like that taking place because somebody taunts another person. We have to learn from this once and for all.

“We’re responsible for communicating calmness. I have this microphone and I’m fortunate to be able to say this. I think it’s a normal thing to say. It’s normal because what we saw the other day looked like scenes from 50 years ago and that worries me about what could potentially happen tomorrow. So I’m communicating this message because I believe it’ll be well received.”

Uruguay take on Canada Saturday night in the third-place match of the tournament. Bielsa's side will be looking to end up on the podium after a brilliant tournament run.