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Angry Mainz ready to offload Jara

SANTIAGO — Chile defender Gonzalo Jara could be regretting his part in Wednesday’s ill-tempered Copa America win over Uruguay, after his German club Mainz announced that they are ready to offload him.

Jara is currently being investigated by the disciplinary panel of CONMEBOL. Photo: epa

Jara is currently being investigated by the disciplinary panel of CONMEBOL. Photo: epa

SANTIAGO — Chile defender Gonzalo Jara could be regretting his part in Wednesday’s ill-tempered Copa America win over Uruguay, after his German club Mainz announced that they are ready to offload him.

The 29-year-old is already facing the prospect of being banned for the rest of the tournament after TV replays showed him sticking his finger up Uruguay star Edinson Cavani’s rear, which resulted in the Paris Saint-Germain forward’s pushing him away with the back of his hand.

Cavani was subsequently sent off by the Brazilian referee as Chile won 1-0 to reach the semi-finals where they will face Peru on Monday. But it was Jara’s theatrical falling to the ground in reaction to Cavani’s flick that has sparked the ire of Mainz.

“He knows that if an offer comes he can go. We do not tolerate that,” Mainz sports director Christian Heidel told Germany’s Bild newspaper yesterday, reported Reuters.

“More than the prod, however, it is what comes afterwards that makes me angry. I hate theatrics more than anything.”

Jara, who played for English sides West Bromwich Albion, Brighton and Nottingham Forest before joining Mainz last year, is currently being investigated by the disciplinary panel of CONMEBOL — the governing body of South American football — after he was caught on video poking Cavani’s behind to provoke a red card in the Copa America quarter-finals.

The Associated Press reported that Alberto Lozada, a member of CONMEBOL’s disciplinary panel, said on Thursday that the local governing body “will open an investigation” into Jara.

Cavani, Uruguay’s top striker in the tournament, was sent off after the 63rd-minute provocation by Jara, and Chile went on to score the only goal on Wednesday, and reach the semi-finals for the first time in 16 years.

Cavani slapped Jara in the face immediately after the Chilean put his hand on him, but the referee punished only Cavani, giving him a second yellow card. While the slap appeared to be light, Jara dropped to the ground with his hand to his face. Cavani’s first booking had been for arguing with the referee’s assistant in the first half.

Uruguay captain Diego Godin said after the match that Cavani “reacted the way he did” only because of what Jara did.

The striker entered the match enduring a personal ordeal back in Uruguay, where his father was detained after allegedly driving drunk and being involved in an accident that killed a motorcyclist.

It was not the first time Jara was seen provoking another player. In 2013, Uruguay striker Luis Suarez was sent off from a World Cup qualifier for punching Jara in the face after a similar provocation from the Chilean.

If Jara has a hearing and is suspended, it could be costly for the hosts, who are trying to win the 99-year-old Copa America — the world’s oldest continental football championship — for the first time.

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