President of Colombia’s national soccer team, Luis Bedoya, wants to change the venue of their World Cup qualifier against Chile, originally scheduled to take place in Santiago on September 11, to Colombia, as the match is now slated for the previous day.
The date change, which was made out of respect for the 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S., prompted outrage from Bedoya, whose national team already has a game against Uruguay scheduled for September 7 in Barranquilla, Colombia.
“It would be unfair for our team to play on September 10 [in Chile] because we must play our game in [Colombia] on September 7, which Chile has free.” He cited a busy travel schedule and potential weather concerns as the main reasons the Colombian national team should play their qualifier in the northern port city of Barranquilla, where their September 7 match will take place.
“We do not accept this. The match must be played on September 11 and not the tenth. We demand respect for the [original] FIFA date. It should be the same for everyone, the date was already set this way,” he told Chilean newspaper La Tercera.
Bedoya has yet to make an official request to the South American Football Confederation for the venue change.
Colombia currently comes in at twentieth in the FIFA world rankings, although Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Ecuador is likely to hamper their chances to qualify for the 2014 World Cup, to be held in Brazil.
