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      Team U.S.A. Names Replacements for Bradley Beal and Kevin Love

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      Beal and Love are out of the Olympics for health reasons. The Spurs’ Keldon Johnson and the Nuggets’ JaVale McGee will join the men’s basketball team.The U.S. men’s national basketball team added to its roster Keldon Johnson of the San Antonio Spurs and JaVale McGee of the Denver Nuggets after two other players were no longer able to participate in the Tokyo Olympics for health reasons.Bradley Beal, a guard expected to be one of the primary scorers for the United States, will miss the Olympics after being placed in the coronavirus health and safety protocols. Kevin Love withdrew from the competition on Friday because of a lingering calf injury.Team U.S.A. also canceled Friday’s exhibition against Australia and placed forward Jerami Grant in the coronavirus protocols as the team faces multiple challenges in the lead-up to the Olympics, which begin next week. Gregg Popovich, Team U.S.A.’s coach, told reporters that he expected Grant to still participate in the Olympics.Beal started all three exhibitions and averaged 10.3 points per game on 10-for-21 shooting. He finished second in the N.B.A. in scoring this season with 31.3 points per game for the Washington Wizards.“Since he was a little kid, this has been a dream of his, and he was playing great,” Popovich told reporters, adding: “For him and his immediate family, it’s devastating. We just feel horrible about it.”The men’s team has had a shaky beginning to defending its three consecutive gold medals. Team U.S.A. opened with exhibition losses to Nigeria and Australia before blowing out Argentina.Top players like LeBron James (Lakers), Jimmy Butler (Heat), Kyrie Irving (Nets) and James Harden (Nets) declined to participate in the Olympics following a condensed off-season last year. Forward Jayson Tatum (Celtics), who is on the roster, is dealing with right knee soreness. Also on the team: Bam Adebayo (Heat), Kevin Durant (Nets), Draymond Green (Golden State), Zach LaVine (Bulls) and Damian Lillard (Trail Blazers).Milwaukee’s Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton and Phoenix’s Devin Booker are expected to join the team after the completion of the N.B.A. finals. The best-of-seven series is tied at two games apiece, with Game 5 on Saturday in Phoenix. More

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      A British Open Comeback: A Two-Year Wait Ends at Royal St. George’s

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      The Open, the only men’s major tournament to shut down last year because of the pandemic, returns with spectators and some strict limitations.SANDWICH, England — Just ahead of the British Open at Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Edward Kitson walked briskly through the dunes on Wednesday night, making his way to the clubhouse and thinking back to last year. More

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      in Soccer

      Euro 2020 Final Will Stay in London

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      An agreement to resolve a dispute about foreign visitors includes the news that a crowd of about 60,000 will be allowed for the final at Wembley Stadium next month.The deciding games of this summer’s European soccer championship are staying in London after tournament organizers and the British government reached an agreement, ending speculation that England’s pandemic travel restrictions would prompt the relocation of the semifinals and finals from Wembley Stadium.The decision, announced on Tuesday, hours before England’s final group-stage game against the Czech Republic at Wembley, came after days of intense talks between European soccer’s governing body, UEFA, which runs the tournament, and local authorities about exemptions to Britain’s pandemic travel rules. UEFA had sought changes that would allow thousands of overseas supporters — and as many as 2,500 V.I.P.s — to attend the semifinals and final in London.A statement to announce the agreement did not outline what exemptions had been granted. It did, however, state the capacity for the three games had been increased to 75 percent of Wembley’s capacity, a figure of more than 60,000. That means the Euro 2020 final will represent the biggest attendance at a sporting event in Britain since the start of the pandemic.🏟️ The UK government has announced that more than 60,000 fans will be permitted at the #EURO2020 semi-finals and final at Wembley Stadium, increasing attendance to 75% of capacity for each game.Full story: ⬇️— UEFA (@UEFA) June 22, 2021
      “The last 18 months have taught us — both on and off the pitch — how integral fans are to the fabric of the game,” UEFA’s president, Aleksander Ceferin, said in the statement. He was planning to hold more talks with British government officials later on Tuesday, when he attended England’s game at Wembley.Officials briefed on the statement said there was broad agreement to meet UEFA’s requirement for 2,500 invited guests — including commercial and broadcast partners and soccer dignitaries — to attend the games at Wembley. However, a demand to allow thousands of fans to travel to London for the game from the nations represented in the final games is unlikely to be met.According to those involved in the negotiations, a dispensation could be made for at most 2,000 supporters from the participating nations, a largely symbolic number that could limit the potential criticism for lifting restrictions for a similar number of V.I.P.s.The crisis over the Wembley matches arose amid a surge in infection rates in Britain that has forced the government to back away from plans to lift the final restriction on social distancing that had been planned for this week. The spike, linked to a new and aggressive variant of the virus, had already dashed hopes that the final could be played in front of a capacity crowd of 90,000 at Wembley.The stadium — one of 11 being used across Europe — is currently allowing only 22,500 fans for the three group-stage games. That number will increase to 40,000 for the second of two rounds of 16 matches, but capacity for Italy’s match with Austria on Saturday will remain capped at 22,500.“As we continue to make progress on our road map out of lockdown, keeping the public safe remains our top priority,” said Oliver Dowden, the British lawmaker responsible for sports.The ongoing concerns about the spread of the virus were highlighted by the news that several members of the Scotland and England teams who played a game at Wembley last week were now in isolation. Scotland’s national team announced on Monday that its young midfielder Billy Gilmour would self isolate after a positive coronavirus test, and England said on Tuesday that two of its players, Ben Chilwell and Mason Mount, who had contact with Gilmour would enter isolation as well.The decision ruled both England players out of the match against the Czechs, which England won, 1-0.Scotland, without Gilmour in its midfield, was eliminated after a 3-1 defeat against Croatia in Glasgow. More

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      in Soccer

      UEFA Could Move Euro 2020 Final From Wembley

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      Tournament organizers and the British government are holding talks about easing pandemic restrictions before the final at London’s Wembley Stadium on July 11.The deciding games of the monthlong European soccer championship have for years been planned for London, where Wembley Stadium is set to host both semifinals and the final of the quadrennial event next month.Only weeks before the Euro 2020 final, though, organizers and the British government are discussing exemptions to pandemic travel restrictions that would allow thousands of overseas supporters — and as many as 2,500 V.I.P.s — to attend the games in London.If an agreement, or a compromise, cannot be reached, UEFA, the governing body for European soccer that runs the championship, has not ruled out moving the final to another country.“There is always a contingency plan but we are confident that the final week will be held in London,” UEFA said in a statement.Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed Friday that his government was open to modifying its rules provided any changes “keep the country safe from Covid.”“We’ll be talking to UEFA about what they want and see if we can make some sensible accommodations,” Johnson said. “But the priority obviously has to be public health.”UEFA secured some exemptions to rules on travel and quarantines for visiting foreign nationals before the tournament, and both it and the British government had thought the coronavirus infection rates that had prompted the restrictions would have fallen by the time the tournament’s deciding games were to be played at Wembley in early July. Instead, case numbers are surging in England, largely because of a new and aggressive variant of the virus, and that led Johnson to postpone lifting the final restrictions on social distancing that had been planned for June 21.That delay already means that any hopes of playing in front of capacity crowds at Wembley have been dashed; it has already been announced that the 90,000-seat stadium instead will operate at only half its capacity for the two semifinals and final. The stadium — one of 11 being used across Europe — is allowing only 22,500 fans for three group-stage games being played there.Johnson held private talks this week about the matter with his UEFA counterpart, Aleksander Ceferin, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions. Privately, officials on both sides expressed confidence that a compromise can be found to keep the game in Britain, though news media reports have said that Budapest, the only host stadium operating at full capacity during the Euros, is being considered as a fallback option.The current talks about looser rules are not the first wrangle this year between UEFA and the British authorities, though, over exemptions for a soccer event. In May, the soccer body and the British government failed to come to an agreement that would have allowed this season’s Champions League final, a game featuring two English teams — Manchester City and Chelsea — to be relocated to London from Istanbul. After trying and failing to reach a deal, UEFA took the final to Porto, Portugal.There is a considerable amount at stake for both sides. For UEFA, London has become a popular and lucrative host for major finals. For the British government, which has recently waded into soccer debates in an effort to boost its popularity and credibility, keeping the games and preserving a valuable relationship with UEFA is seen as vital as Britain tries to forge a new identity after its acrimonious departure from the European Union.UEFA’s president, Aleksandar Ceferin, at a match in Munich this week.Pool photo by Alexander HassensteinBut Britain is also counting on UEFA’s support for a joint bid with Ireland to stage the 2030 World Cup. Without UEFA’s backing, that effort would be doomed. Johnson mentioned the World Cup bid on a phone call with Ceferin, according to a person on the call.UEFA’s proposed solutions to the impasse on visitors have included fans entering the country “using a strict testing and bubble concept,” its statement said. Guests would be asked to restrict their movements to approved transportation and game venues, and to leave Britain within 24 hours.“We understand the pressures that the government face and hope to be able to reach a satisfactory conclusion of our discussions on the matter,” the UEFA statement said.The pandemic era has taught European soccer’s governing body how to become nimble, and how to relocate high-profile games on short notice. For the past two years, UEFA has shifted its marquee club championship, the Champions League final, because of pandemic-related complications in the original host city.But anxiety has grown among UEFA officials since a fast-spreading variant of the virus cast doubt on the anticipated “unlocking” of Britain by June 21. Johnson confirmed a four-week delay to the plans last week, signaling to UEFA that it needed to secure new exemptions from its hosts or seek an alternative site.Privately, UEFA officials believe they are unlikely to get clearance for the thousands of foreign supporters that they are seeking, but they are optimistic that as many as 2,500 dignitaries, including executives from sponsors and broadcasters that provide much of the tournament’s $2 billion in revenue, will be cleared to come. Waivers have already been provided for about 1,000 guests, but allowing more V.I.P.s — but not access for fans — is politically risky for both UEFA and Britain.In his call with UEFA’s leaders, Johnson reminded the officials that London’s diverse population meant that any team that reached the final could count on vocal, locally based support.For UEFA, having crowds at the stadiums is as much a symbolic imperative as it is a commercial one. Much of this season’s soccer was played against the backdrop of empty seats and closed arenas, and Euro 2020, as far as the organizers were concerned, had to be seen as a sign of a return to old times. Cities that could not guarantee that fans would be allowed to attend matches were dropped and replaced. The games they lost were relocated to cities with less stringent rules.Games have now been played at all 11 venues, and attendances have ranged from as few as 10,000 to a nearly full house of 55,662 in Budapest for Hungary’s game against Portugal. More

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      in Tennis

      It’s Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon. Don’t Roll Your Eyes.

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      The fiery star’s march toward history could force his detractors into an uncomfortable position: giving him his due.At first glance, this year’s Wimbledon, returning after the coronavirus pandemic shut down the world’s most famed tennis tournament in 2020, looks to be a diminished affair.No Rafael Nadal. After a bruising defeat to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the French Open, Nadal withdrew from Wimbledon, citing a need to heal.No Naomi Osaka. She announced last week that she would continue her hiatus to care for her mental health.Roger Federer will stride again on Centre Court, but he is nearly 40 and still shaking the rust from an injured knee. As time passes, so do the chances that Serena Williams will make another winning run.But Djokovic will be there, fresh from victory at Roland Garros and taking dead aim at the record books. Winning Wimbledon, which begins next Monday, would give him his 20th major title, tying him at long last with Federer and Nadal. It would also keep alive his quest to win four majors in a single year, the Grand Slam, something not achieved on the men’s side in 52 years.He sits now on the precipice of history, which creates a bind for his many stubborn detractors: Ignore and deride his stirring march, or finally give the fiery and efficient Serb his just due.Here’s why the haters, and those simply unmoved by his ascent, should give Djokovic reconsideration.His minimalist approach redefines tennis mastery.In a sport that breathes aesthetics, that lives on the awe-inspiring flow of points and balletic movement of its most outstanding practitioners, Djokovic’s pared-down approach is as divisive as Rothko’s color blocks.More than perhaps anyone in tennis history, Djokovic has refined the foundational core of the game — preparation, balance, weight shifts, footwork.Julian Finney/Getty ImagesFederer has Rembrandt’s flair: all those baroque swings and gracefully artistic approaches. Nadal’s physical, looping groundstrokes recall a heavyweight boxer’s pounding left hooks.But Djokovic’s game has its beauty. No top player has ever been as flexible, as able, on every surface to twist and bend and turn an outright mad-dash defensive sprint into a sudden attack. More than perhaps anyone in tennis history, Djokovic has refined the foundational core of the game — preparation, balance, weight shifts, footwork.He is a minimalist, spare and unencumbered by the need for showy flair. Is there an eye-catching aesthetic to that? You bet.He’s not a robot. He’s Houdini.There are too many slashes at Djokovic on the internet to count. They say he’s a machine. A robot. Nothing more than the world’s most expansive squash wall.Hogwash.Yes, he wins … and wins, and wins. Over the last decade, nobody has done more of that in tennis. But there is nothing predictable about how Djokovic goes about it. There are all-out, percussive beat downs — blurs of brilliance that mix power and defense and deftness — as in his straight-sets demolition of Nadal in the final of the 2019 Australian Open.There are also vivid displays of guts, grit and staying power. His recent Roland Garros title was all about that. But remember, too, the six-hour, five-set marathon against Nadal to win the Australian Open in 2012. And, of course, the comeback from two match points down to nip Federer in the epic Wimbledon final of 2019.Don’t forget 2010 and 2011, when Djokovic twice rose from the ashes to knock off Federer in the semifinals at the U.S. Open, beating back two match points in both cases. In 2011, Djokovic not only came back from two sets down, he saved the first match point he faced with a from-the-heels forehand return that rocketed past his rival and stung the line for a clean winner.Federer promptly wilted, losing every remaining game, drooping off as if disgusted by the audaciousness of his opponent.If you think a profound penchant for Houdini-like escapes is boring, well, maybe you’re beyond convincing.Djokovic’s flaws redeem him.Yes, he can erupt, shattering rackets, barking like a petulant child at himself, his coaches, umpires and peers. At his temperamental nadir, the 2020 U.S. Open, he struck a ball in anger that hit a lineswoman, leading to his default from the tournament.At his most heedless, he tried to hold tournaments last year in Serbia and Croatia during one of the worst periods of the pandemic. The exhibitions were canceled after he and other top players came down with the coronavirus.Djokovic has proved himself all too human in the best, worst and most searching ways. He does not hide from it. Despite the myriad clips of him raging on the court or appearing tone deaf off it — as in April when he said he did not think coronavirus vaccinations should be mandatory on the ATP Tour — his journey has always been public facing.His flaws, and the openness with which he reveals his interior life, make him more interesting than his near-perfect, more restrained peers.Yes, Djokovic can erupt, shattering rackets, barking like a petulant child at himself, umpires and his coaches, as he did during the 2018 U.S. Open. Frank Franklin Ii/Associated PressWithout him, tennis would be a monotonous duopoly.For years, men’s tennis seemed defined by a single rivalry: Federer versus Nadal. Two great champions, two contrasting styles.Their lasting connection came to define this era of the sport. Then Djokovic barged and bullied his way in. He is the third wheel, different from Federer and Nadal in almost every way, including the fact that he does not hail from well-to-do Switzerland or Spain, but from an Eastern European country many fans cannot find on a map.For his haters, all of this is a bitter pill to swallow, one they must choke down with frequency.Djokovic now holds the upper hand in head-to-head wins over both rivals. Since 2011, he has captured 18 major titles, seven more than Nadal and 14 more than Federer in that span.After winning this year’s Australian Open, a newspaper headline summed up tennis’s uncomfortable truth: Djokovic might be the greatest of them all.If a rested Federer can stir the old grass-court magic, maybe we get the title bout everyone wants: a rematch of the heart-pounding 2019 All England Club final.Novak Djokovic will find himself in a familiar spot, facing a boisterous crowd intent as much on Federer winning as on seeing the Serb crumpled in defeat.Should recent history hold, Djokovic will raise the champion’s trophy again, another rebuke to the holdouts who refuse to embrace one of the most exciting champions in all of sport.Wimbledon diminished? Not quite. More

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      Chris Paul Out Indefinitely Because of Coronavirus Protocols

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      Paul, the Phoenix Suns guard, could miss at least a part of the Western Conference finals.After leading the Phoenix Suns into the Western Conference finals, Chris Paul is in danger of missing at least part of the series after entering the N.B.A.’s coronavirus health and safety protocols.How soon Paul can return to the Suns was not immediately known. The Suns announced Wednesday that Paul was “currently out” because of the protocols and that they would next provide an update about his status on Saturday.Among the factors that will determine how long Paul, 36, will be away from the Suns are his vaccination status and whether he tested positive for the coronavirus. Players who test positive are typically placed in isolation for 10 days, but isolation time, depending on the circumstances, can be reduced if a player is vaccinated.The team did not say why Paul was in the protocol. It could mean that he tested positive, but it also could just indicate that he was in close contact with someone who did. The N.B.A. announced Wednesday afternoon that one player tested positive for the virus within the past week but, as per usual, did not name the player. It’s not clear whether Paul has been vaccinated.The prospect of Phoenix’s losing Paul, after landing a spot in the conference finals on Sunday by completing a four-game sweep of the Denver Nuggets, was the latest blow to an N.B.A. postseason rocked by a string of health-related absences for star players.With the Los Angeles Clippers announcing on Wednesday that forward Kawhi Leonard would be out indefinitely with a sprained right knee, Leonard was poised to become the eighth All-Star to miss at least one playoff game this year because of injury. That is the most in league history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Leonard hurt his knee in the fourth quarter of the Clippers’ Game 4 victory against the Utah Jazz.The seven other All-Stars on that list: the Los Angeles Lakers’ Anthony Davis, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, Boston’s Jaylen Brown, Utah’s Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley, and the Nets’ James Harden and Kyrie Irving. The Clippers said Leonard would miss Wednesday night’s Game 5 against the Jazz. Paul would be the ninth All-Star to miss time this postseason if he is not cleared to rejoin the Suns before the conference finals, which will begin Sunday or Tuesday.Paul secured just the second trip to the conference finals of his 16-year career with perhaps the best series of his career. He averaged 25.5 points per game, shot 62.7 percent from the field and committed just five turnovers against 41 assists in the four games against Denver.Paul’s only previous appearance in the N.B.A.’s final four came with the Houston Rockets in 2018 and was marred by a series-turning injury. A hamstring issue sidelined him for the final two games against Golden State after Houston had taken a 3-2 series lead. Golden State capitalized on Paul’s absence to win those two games without Paul and went on to win its third championship in four years.A shoulder injury plagued Paul through the first several games of the Suns’ first-round series against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. But Paul recovered to help the Suns capitalize on Davis’s limited availability and eliminate the Lakers in six games, the earliest playoff exit in LeBron James’s career.When asked about the shoulder after the Suns’ sweep of the Nuggets, Paul said, “I’m good now.”The N.B.A. began the season in December in each team’s home market rather than in another restricted-access bubble environment like the one it engineered last summer in Florida to complete the 2019-20 season because of the pandemic. During the first half of the regular season, the league postponed 31 games because of coronavirus intrusions that left at least one team in each matchup without the minimum of eight players in uniform. But all 30 teams managed to complete their 72-game regular seasons in May, and Commissioner Adam Silver told Time magazine in April that more than 70 percent of the league’s players had received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine.The N.B.A. has issued weekly updates on the number of positive coronavirus tests leaguewide and, before Wednesday, had announced three successive weeks with zero positive tests since the playoffs began on May 22. More

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      in Golf

      Jon Rahm Returns to the PGA Tour, Ready for the U.S. Open

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      The golfer, who was forced to withdraw from the Memorial Tournament with a six-stroke lead after a positive coronavirus test, said Tuesday, “It happened, that’s life.”SAN DIEGO — Jon Rahm was thunderstruck by the positive coronavirus test result that forced his June 5 withdrawal from the Memorial Tournament, a competition Rahm led by an almost insurmountable six strokes with only one round remaining. But afterward, he recognized the emotions that his exit, which included a nationally televised broadcast of Rahm receiving the news and leaving the 18th green in tears, elicited.“I was aware of what was going on,” Rahm said in his first public remarks about the situation on Tuesday as he prepared for the 2021 U.S. Open, which begins Thursday at the Torrey Pines Golf Course. “And to all the people criticizing the PGA Tour, they shouldn’t. We are in a pandemic, and even though this virus has very different forms of attacking people, you never know what reaction you’re going to get. So the PGA Tour did what they had to do.”He added: “I’ve heard a lot of different theories — that I should have played alone. But I shouldn’t have, that’s nonsense. The rules are there, and it’s clear. I was fully aware when I was in tracing protocol that that was a possibility. I knew that could happen. I was hoping it wouldn’t, but I support what the PGA Tour did.”Speaking at a news conference, Rahm, 26, revealed that he had been vaccinated before he tested positive.“The truth is I was vaccinated, I just wasn’t out of that 14-day period,” Rahm said, referring to the two-week period it typically takes for the body to build a strong immune response to the virus after receiving the final dose of the vaccine. “I had started the process, and unfortunately, that’s how the timing ended up being.”Rahm continued, “Looking back on it, I guess I wish I would have done it earlier, but thinking on scheduling purposes and having the P.G.A. and defending the Memorial, to be honest, it wasn’t in my mind. If I had done it in a few days earlier, probably we wouldn’t be having these conversations right now.”The amiable Rahm, alternately smiling and serious, did not ask for sympathy, but he had a message for his professional golf colleagues, who a tour official said earlier this month had been vaccinated at a rate “north of 50 percent.”“We live in a free country, so do as you please,” Rahm said. “I can tell you from experience that if something happens, you’re going to have to live with the consequences golf wise.”Had Rahm been able to complete the final round of the Memorial, which he had won in 2020, he almost certainly would have been handed the winner’s check worth roughly $1.7 million. In Rahm’s absence, Patrick Cantlay claimed it instead.“I know if you’re younger, you run less of a risk of having big problems from Covid,” Rahm said. “But truthfully we don’t know the long-term effects of this virus, so I would encourage people to actually get it done.”Since some of the public outcry about what happened to Rahm centered around the way he was informed of his positive test — he was stopped as he came off the green with TV cameras close by and thousands of spectators watching — he was asked on Tuesday if he was upset by the way tour officials gave him the news.“It could have been handled better,” he conceded with a wide grin. “I’m not going to lie, that’s the second time I get put on the spot on national TV on the same golf course on the same hole.”At the 2020 Memorial, Rahm celebrated his victory on the 18th green of the Ohio course. Then, as he was conducting a television interview, he was informed that he had been penalized two strokes for causing his ball to move slightly near the 16th green. Rahm still won by three strokes.One of the mysteries of Rahm’s sorrowful scene alongside the 18th hole this year was when he said, “Not again,” after he received the news. It turns out that it was a reference to last year’s ending.“For all those people wondering when I said, ‘Not again,’ that’s exactly what I mean — not again,” Rahm said on Tuesday. “Last year I put my heart out talking about one of my family members passing, and I get told, ‘Well, go sign your scorecard with a penalty stroke — with no warning.’“Then this year I put arguably the best performance of my life, and I get told again on live TV, ‘Hey, you’re not playing tomorrow.’ So it could have been handled a little bit better, yeah, but it still doesn’t change the fact of what really happened. Because it was the second time I got put on the spot on the same course. I was a little bit more hurt, but yeah, again, it’s tough.”At the same time, Rahm admitted there were probably other considerations being weighed by PGA Tour leaders as they decided how and when to tell him of the positive coronavirus test.“They don’t want me to go by and start shaking all the patrons’ hands and high-fiving and all that, so I understand that as well,” Rahm said.One of the more popular men’s golfers — a player who shows his emotions and competes with zesty flair — Rahm was already looking ahead to this week’s competition. He said repeatedly that he had moved on from the withdrawal.“It happened, that’s life,” Rahm said. “Luckily, everybody in my family and myself are OK. Luckily, I didn’t really have any symptoms, and within what happened, this is the best-case scenario.” More

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      in Soccer

      Venezuela Faces Coronavirus Outbreak Ahead of Copa América Tournament

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      A dozen Venezuela players and staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus a day before they were to play Brazil in the opening match of the South American soccer championship, according to the health authorities in Brazil.The outbreak is the latest bad news for the troubled tournament, the Copa América, which was moved to Brazil less than two weeks ago after the scheduled host, Argentina, said it could not hold it safely during the pandemic. Colombia, the other co-host, had dropped out earlier.Globo reported Saturday that the number of infected members of Venezuela’s traveling party had grown to 12 from five, citing the health authorities in Brasília, where its team is scheduled to play host Brazil on Sunday night. The Associated Press reported that Conmebol, the governing body for soccer in South America and the organizer of the Copa América, had told Brazilian health officials about the positive results on Friday night.“The health department was notified by Conmebol that 12 members of the Venezuelan national team’s delegation, including players and coaching staff, tested positive for Covid-19,” the health authorities said in a statement. Venezuela’s team arrived in Brazil on Friday.“They are all asymptomatic, isolated in single rooms and are being monitored,” the statement added.Neither Conmebol nor Venezuela’s soccer federation made a public comment on the reports, or the positive tests, on Saturday.Reports in Venezuela said the federation was preparing to charter a flight to send 14 replacement players to Brasília so that Sunday’s game could go ahead as planned. Another Venezuelan playing domestic soccer in Brazil also would be added to the roster, the reports said. Teams at the tournament were asked to submit a short list of as many as 60 players as organizers tried to put in place mitigation measures in case of a spate of positive tests.Two players on Venezuela’s roster were forced to drop out after testing positive ahead of the team’s departure for Brazil on Thursday. The positives after the team’s arrival in Brazil will raise questions about the efficacy of those tests.Local news media reports had also raised concerns about how strictly the team was following protocols to isolate itself from outsiders after politicians and celebrities posted images from inside Venezuela’s pretournament training camp.The positive tests most likely will renew opposition toward a tournament that many have said should have been canceled. The players on Brazil’s team have gone public with their concerns about the tournament, even as they have committed to play in it. Almost 500,000 people have died from the virus in Brazil, more than any country except the United States.Colombia vaccinated its team on Thursday.Barranquilla Mayor’s Office/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe Copa América is the oldest international competition in soccer. This year’s edition, though, can already lay a claim to being the most unpopular edition in its 105-year history.An 11th-hour decision to switch the 10-nation event to Brazil amid its ongoing struggles to contain the coronavirus has led to protests and widespread condemnation inside and outside the country. The tournament was supposed to be held jointly by Colombia and Argentina, but Colombia was dropped amid political protests and then Argentina announced — two weeks before the games were to begin — that it could no longer safely stage the tournament.Brazil’s populist leader Jair Bolsonaro, whose handling of the pandemic has drawn much criticism, jumped at the opportunity to step in. The decision to bring the event to a nation still battling the pandemic sparked immediate outrage, with the competition, which will be played without spectators, being darkly described by some opponents as the “championship of death.”The opposition to the tournament extended to the stars of the Brazil squad, which has collectively expressed its opposition to the circumstances that led to the event’s being moved to their home country. The teams held multiple meetings, and at one point considered boycotting the tournament, before resolving to defend the trophy they won for the ninth time on the last occasion the tournament was played in 2019.“We are against the organization of the Copa América, but we will never say no to the Brazilian team,” the players said in an unsigned statement.Still, the outrage continued, and even led to an emergency appeal to Brazil’s Supreme Court by opponents who wanted it canceled. The court on Thursday ruled the games could go ahead.The event will, though, be played without two of its major sponsors. Mastercard, a tournament partner since 1992, and the brewing giant Ambev said they could no longer associate their brands with this year’s Copa América. More