Chile calls for suspension of referee from Canada match as part of formal complaint over Copa America refereeing

The Chilean Football Federation (FFC) has filed an official complaint with CONMEBOL regarding the referee’s conduct during the Copa America match against Canada.

In the complaint, the federation described its “deepest annoyance and dismay” with the refereeing decisions in the goalless draw with Canada at Inter & Co Stadium in Orlando on Saturday night and raised the issue of all three Copa America Chile matches. Saturday’s result saw them eliminated from the Copa America at the group stage.

In a letter sent by FFC secretary general Jorge Yunge Williams, Chile called for the suspension of Wilmar Roldan, the referee of the match in Canada. The letter also listed several examples of allegedly “questionable decisions” by referees during matches at the tournament, including against Peru and Argentina.

The decisions taken in these two matches – in which they drew 0-0 and lost 1-0 respectively – “directly damaged our team’s participation in its continuity in the aforementioned championship,” writes FFC.

Chile cite an incident during a match against Peru when the head referee, Wilton Sampaio, was “exceptionally lenient” towards the opposing team and, he claims, allowed a series of fouls that were not whistled. In the match against Argentina, Chile claim that one of Argentina’s goals was scored when a player involved in the play was offside. They denied a penalty that they claim was not whistled in that match by the referee, Andres Matonte.

Chile’s main complaint concerned the alleged “lack of impartiality” shown by Roldan both in previous matches and in the match against Canada on Saturday. The letter mentioned Chile’s previous matches under Roldan’s responsibility and the “absolute lack of impartiality” the Colombian had allegedly shown. Chile claims that the fact that it won only one of the nine games Roldan refereed is alleged evidence of this.

Chile also said they had requested Roldan’s suspension following their Copa America 2021 match against Paraguay, in which they claimed they were not awarded a clear penalty during a 2-0 loss. This request was later rejected.

The FFC has now demanded that Roldan “be sanctioned with an indefinite and final suspension, or failing that, the maximum sanction in force”. They have also requested copies of all VAR footage from the entire match against Canada. Some of this footage was later released by Chilean media overnight, raising even more questions about refereeing decisions.

Pablo Milad, president of FFC, addressed a group of reporters after the goalless draw with Canada, which resulted in the South American country being eliminated from the Copa America at the group stage for the first time in decades.

He had particular problems with the second yellow card Gabriel Suazo received in the 27th minute, which meant that Chile played with 10 players for most of the match.

“I don’t want to talk about transparency and CONMEBOL,” Milad said. “I have a good relationship (with the organization) and I have a lot of evidence that there is much more transparency compared to the previous situation. Today there is absolute transparency in terms of money and so on.

“We just need to improve these situations (judging). You come out (of the tournament) with a bad taste in your mouth knowing you were prejudiced. If they hadn’t done that, we would have qualified. There shouldn’t be any questions.”

“It should be clear and not require looking at the refereeing staff and whether they made the right decision or not, or having to check VAR whether it was the right decision. That’s what hurts so much.”

In his letter, Jorge Yunge points out that Roldan failed to send off Canadian Moise Bombito early in Saturday’s match, and that the second yellow card shown to Suazo was deemed to be key errors. The formal complaint filed by Chile concerns Roldan and his refereeing team.

“Chile has been arbitrarily eliminated from Copa America 2024,” the letter concluded.

CONMEBOL did not provide comment when contacted AthleteCopa America organisers later released some of the VAR footage from the match against Canada, in which they admitted that the referee made a mistake in not sending off Bombito earlier in the match.

(Top photo: Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)