Demonstrators stand behind a banner reading ‘We don’t want the Copa, we want vaccines’ outside the Mane Garrincha stadium before the Copa America opening game.
BRASILIA: The Copa America that almost never was opened Sunday in Brazil, overshadowed by the desperate search for a last-minute host, sponsor withdrawals and Covid-19 — including outbreaks on three teams.
After more than a year of bad news that culminated in the last-minute scrapping of original co-hosts Argentina and Colombia, the South American championships finally kicked off with Brazil defeating a coronavirus-decimated Venezuela 3-0 in an empty Mane Garrincha stadium in Brasilia.
But the inaugural match, which started with a minute of silence for victims of Covid-19, does not mean a respite from controversy, or from the virus.
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