Neymar to miss the remainder of the Copa America

Brazil captain Neymar will miss the remainder of the Copa America after CONMEBOL increased his suspension to four matches on Friday. In addition to the ban, Neymar was given a $10,000 fine.

The Copa America disciplinary board on Thursday originally dealt the Brazil No. 10 a two-match provisional suspension after he received yellow cards in two straight matches and was sent off in Brazil’s 1-0 loss to Colombia on Wednesday.

#BRA captain @neymarjr banned for four games and will miss remainder of #Chile2015 http://t.co/sWdPgU1nDy pic.twitter.com/ITqnDFVhcE

– Copa América 2015 (@ca2015_en) June 19, 2015
Later in the day, CONMEBOL reduced the penalty to one game, and announced that the disciplinary board would meet on Friday “to decide the final punishment.”

Neymar was sent off at the conclusion of Wednesday’s game for an attempted head-butt of Colombia defender Jeison Murillo that sparked a melee during which Colombia striker Carlos Bacca was also shown red.

According match referee Enrique Osses’ report, the Barcelona forward then verbally abused the official in the dressing room tunnel following the on-field incident with Murillo and Bacca.

In Neymar’s defense, the Brazilian football federation (CBF) accused Osses of hostility toward the former Santos man.

“In my view the rules are always used against me,” Neymar told Brazilian media, blasting Osses’ decision to caution him for the first-half handball.

“I was off balance, the ball hit my hand but it was not intentional. They put a weak referee in there to whistle up for all that. The team didn’t play well.” He said.

Source: ESPN