CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)—Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday commiserated with his country’s football fans saying the national team was “robbed” of a goal in the Copa America semifinal loss to Paraguay. Chavez, who is undergoing cancer treatment in Cuba, posted a string of messages on his Twitter account Thursday morning, saying Venezuela should complain to CONMEBOL, the governing body of South American football.">CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)—Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday commiserated with his country’s football fans saying the national team was “robbed” of a goal in the Copa America semifinal loss to Paraguay. Chavez, who is undergoing cancer treatment in Cuba, posted a string of messages on his Twitter account Thursday morning, saying Venezuela should complain to CONMEBOL, the governing body of South American football.">

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Chavez complains about call in Venezuela’s loss

  • Submitted by: manso
  • 07 / 22 / 2011

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)—Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday commiserated with his country’s football fans saying the national team was “robbed” of a goal in the Copa America semifinal loss to Paraguay.

Chavez, who is undergoing cancer treatment in Cuba, posted a string of messages on his Twitter account Thursday morning, saying Venezuela should complain to CONMEBOL, the governing body of South American football.

“Paraguay didn’t beat us in that game,” one message said. The president added that he had been watching the match along with former Cuban President Fidel Castro and they both “clearly saw the goal they took away from us.”

“In my modest opinion,” Chavez continued, “… THEY ROBBED US OF THE VICTORY GOAL! And I hope that with this I’m not offending anybody!”

Oswaldo Vizcarrondo had a goal disallowed in the first half of the match Wednesday night after a close offside decision. TV replays backed the referee’s call that the Venezuelan player was offside.

Venezuela also hit the woodwork three times before the game finished 0-0 and Paraguay won a penalty shootout.

“Why the devil was that referee going to nullify such a spectacular goal?” Chavez asked in another message. He said he had spoken with Venezuela coach Cesar Farias.

Thousands of Venezuelans cheered their team in a Caracas plaza while watching on a giant screen, and then their cheers turned to silence during the penalty shootout when Paraguay’s goalkeeper stopped a shot.

Many fans said afterward that they were proud of Venezuela’s historic feat in making the Copa America semifinals for the first time, and believed their squad had shown better play than Paraguay throughout the match in Argentina.

Venezuela, long known largely for its standout baseball players, has seen its national football team improve markedly in recent years.

“We’ve shown that Venezuelan football should be respected,” said Alexander Rivas, a 23-year-old university student. Even with the loss, he added, “For us, they’re heroes.”

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-copaam-venezuela-chavez

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