FIFA President Gianni Infantino said today that the qualifying meeting for the 2022 World Cup between Brazil and Argentina, suspended due to the intervention of the Brazilian health authorities, should be decided on the field.
On September 5, in São Paulo, the match was suspended after five minutes, for alleged violations of the covid-19 pandemic protocols.
“It’s always good to decide the games on the field and not off the field. [de supostamente fornecer informações falsas na chegada] it cannot happen, nor can a match be interrupted in this way. It is unacceptable and harms football,” defended the leader of the body that oversees world football, at a press conference held today in Buenos Aires.
However, Infantino recalls that “it is not always possible, as there are rules”, so it is necessary to wait to “see what the FIFA disciplinary bodies will decide”.
The National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), accompanied by police elements, broke into the game’s turf in São Paulo, alleging that four Argentine footballers did not comply with the rules for combating the covid-19 pandemic, after having already been urged to stay in quarantine at the hotel.
The eternal South American rivals faced each other at Arena Neo Química, in a qualifying game in the South American zone for Mundial2022, interrupted when five minutes had elapsed.
The event in a match between “the two most glorious teams in South America” marked a moment of “madness”, but was also an example of the “challenges that covid-19 presents” to clubs, continental associations and governments, declared Infantino, at the high.
Anvisa accused four players from the Albiceleste team, who play in England, of having provided “false information” in their entry data into Brazil, by not revealing their stay on British soil in the previous 14 days, a fact that would require a period of quarantine, since the country was on Brazil’s red list in the fight against covid-19.
Giovanni Lo Celso and Cristian Romero, coached at Tottenham by the Portuguese Nuno Espírito Santo, Emiliano Martínez and Emiliano Buendia, who play at Aston Villa, are the players targeted by the authorities.
The four players were eventually quarantined when they arrived in Brazil, having also been advised to “return to their country of origin”.
After some discussion, the Argentina team left the pitch for the match, while the Brazilian players stayed on the field to conduct a training session.
The Argentines, shielded by the authorization of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), denied any improper conduct and the interim president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, Ednaldo Rodrigues, considered that Anvisa “exceeded the limits of common sense” by interrupting the game .
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