CONMEBOL, the governing body of South American football, has suspended Chile defender Gonzalo Jara for three games and fined the Chilean FA $7,500 due to his actions in a 1-0 win over Uruguay in the Copa America quarterfinals.
A statement from the Chilean FA confirmed it had accepted Jara’s suspension, but urged CONMEBOL to utilize the same standards when a complaint against the conduct of several Uruguayan players is reviewed.
Jara reportedly provoked Uruguay forward Edinson Cavani by poking the PSG man in the lower back, which prompted him to raise his hands up and cause the Chilean’s theatrical fall to the ground.
Cavani was then given his second yellow card, turning into a red card that ejected him from the game.
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Shortly before the verdict came out, Chile head coach Jorge Sampaoli was critical of the way this case was handled.“If we’re going to start lodging complaints that don’t have anything to do with the referee’s match report it’s going to get very complicated because we are going to have different analyses after every match,” he told a news conference.
“We’re going to have to be clear from now on that everyone will be judged in the same way, because if this is a precedent and leads to a suspension on the basis of a post-match complaint, everyone’s going to start doing it.”
Tomorrow, Chile will battle Peru in a Copa America semi-final, and will next either play in the final or third-place game depending on the upcoming result. Jara will not take part in any of these matches, out for the remainder of the tournament.
Mainz is now willing to sell Jara after expressing disgust at his involvement.