By David Gold
June 15 – The Copa América will go ahead as planned according to the Argentine Football Association (AFA) despite concerns being raised by senior officials over a Chilean volcanic ash cloud which is disrupting air traffic across South America.
A statement issued by José Luis Meiszner, the President of the Organising Committee of the Copa América 2011, published on the Argentine Football Federation’s website, said that the schedule of games would be taking place as originally planned, in spite of Chile’s Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano continuing to spew out more ash.
It also said that “natural circumstances which have taken place are no reason to make any changes”.
Speculation that the tournament could have been delayed was mooted by the President of the AFA, Julio Grondona.
“We are aware of everything that is going on and under no circumstances are all countries prepared to come to Buenos Aires,” said Grondona.
“The Championship is scheduled to begin on July 1, so we’re hoping that this problem will go away in the next five or six days.”
CONMEBOL’s executive secretary Francisco Figueredo had also suggested that teams could travel to Paraguay’s capital Asunción and travel by land to games in Argentina if the ash cloud persisted.
Plumes of ash have drifted across the continent, playing havoc with flight schedules and grounding many flights.
The first leg of the Copa Libertadores final today in Montevideo between Santos and Peñarol was threatened by the cloud, but the Brazilian side managed to fly to Uruguay for the game yesterday.
The Copa Sudamericana draw was also postponed as a result of the chaos from yesterday to tomorrow in the hope that the ash would clear by then.
The Copa America is being staged in Argentina and runs from July 1 to July 24.
The first game is set to take place in La Plata between Argentina and Bolivia on July 1.
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