Claudio Tapia, president of the Argentine Football Federation, quickly criticized the way the game against Brazil was suspended in São Paulo – five minutes into the game, delegates from the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) and agents from the Brazilian federal police entered on the field to deport four Argentine players who failed to visit the United Kingdom in the previous 14 days when entering Brazil.
Later, the Federation issued a statement expressing “discomfort”, stressing that the delegation had been in Brazil since the 3rd and forwarding a decision to FIFA.
«The Argentine Federation (AFA) expresses deep discomfort with the suspension of the game between the Argentine team and the Brazilian team, in São Paulo. Like the CBF, the AFA was surprised by the performance of Anvisa (health authorities) as soon as the game started. It should be noted that the Albiceleste Delegation was in Brazilian territory since the 3rd of September in the morning, complying with all sanitary protocols in force regulated by CONMEBOL for the normal development of the Qualifiers for Qatar-2022. After the report by the CONMEBOL officials and the referee of the match, the information will be forwarded to the competent FIFA body in accordance with the regulations in force. Football should not go through these types of episodes that undermine the sporting spirit of such an important competition», reads.
The selection returned, however, to Argentina.
#Major Selection We are going home! #Always together pic.twitter.com/Xs74usY60E
– Argentina Selection ???? (@Argentina) September 6, 2021
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