The governing body of South American football, CONMEBOL, have handed a one-match ban to the Argentina head coach, Lionel Scaloni, for being late to return to touchline after the halftime break during the COPA America 2024 Group A clash against Chile. With that, the 46-year-old won’t be able to guide the Argentina football team on the field in their upcoming match against Peru.
The COPA America officials had warned the Argentina team management about the first offence from Lionel Scaloni in getting late to return to touchline after halftime during their 2-0 win against Canada. But after he did the same versus Chile in their second Group A match, which they won 1-0, CONMEBOL suspended him for the next match.
As per the article 104 and 145 of the COPA America rulebook, “f the players of a team appear on the field later than the scheduled time for the start or resumption of the game, or disobey the referee’s or match delegate’s instructions, the responsible association may be sanctioned by CONMEBOL’s disciplinary bodies with a warning for a first offense and a fine for second or subsequent offenses.”
Furthermore, CONMEBOL also fined Argentina and their head coach, Lionel Scaloni, $15,000. He won’t be able to attend any of the press conferences for the Group A clash against Peru either.
During the pre-match press conference, which was attended by the assistant coach of Argentina, Walter Samuel, “He (Lionel Scaloni) is a little bitter about the situation because we consider ourselves a correct coaching staff. In these six years, we have almost never had this type of sanctions. But it is normal for him to be bitter, he wanted to be with the team tomorrow.”