In the program Vive Redgol, which airs every Monday at 2300 hours on the Vive channel of VTR and on Redgol's multimedia platforms, host Rodrigo Herrera addressed the new counterattack that the Chilean Football Federation is preparing in the case of Byron Castillo.
The journalist is not a fan of continuing to kick up a fuss in FIFA, let alone going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) afterwards. "You have to know when to say enough," he concluded, even though he understands that the ANFP (Chilean Football National Association) wants to go to the bitter end.
"I am a defender of the idea that whoever believes they are right should defend themselves in accordance with the law in the relevant instances, and Chile certainly did its part in the case of Byron Castillo. For me, there is no doubt that the player who plays for the Ecuadorian national team is not Ecuadorian, but Colombian. However, we will realize that FIFA does not make decisions based on the law, they make decisions for political and economic reasons," Herrera said.
He adds that "Chile is in the middle of making a presentation in a context that does not favor our interests. I can understand and even agree that the Chilean national team and the ANFP have made this attempt, thinking about the nearly $20 million that teams receive just for qualifying and participating in the group stage."
The issue is that he calls for appealing to common sense. "You have to know when to stop and when to put a stop. I have the impression that things will not change based on the verdict that we will soon learn about what FIFA has said in the case of Byron Castillo. The appeal to that instance will result in the same way and we will end up at CAS," he warns about the future.
He details that "there, CAS will be faced with a dilemma where it will have to decide on a matter that it does not have jurisdiction over: why Ecuador, as a Republic, grants citizenship to Byron Castillo without having been born in its territory."
"It is a matter that concerns Ecuador and it is clear that Chile's argumentative line, even if it is right, will not be accepted. It does us harm to continue in this fight, it discredits us, it generates externalities that affect the current national team and even bother the coaching staff," emphasizes the host of the program.
Finally, he believes that "it is time to say stop here and tell Berizzo that he has the peace of mind to work for four years on the original project. It would have been great to go to the World Cup, but when everyone gets upset over a matter in which we are not going to win, I don't think it's worth continuing."