Status: 06.09.2021 1:37 a.m.
Crazy scenes in Brazil: In the game against Argentina, officials from the health authority cause the game to be abandoned. It is about quarantine violations and alleged false information.
The World Cup qualifier between Brazil and Argentina was canceled on Sunday under bizarre circumstances. The scandal was triggered by four Argentines playing in England who are said to have given false information about their travel route. Three of them were in the starting XI.
In Sao Paulo, six minutes had been played when officers from the federal police and the state health authority Anvisa stepped onto the lawn. It quickly became clear that their target were Emiliano Buendia and Emiliano Martinez from Aston Villa and Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso from Tottenham Hotspur. The Argentine team around superstar Messi then went into the dressing room.
Three England legionnaires in the starting XI
“It had to come to this because the Argentine delegation had not followed the requirements of the Anvisa right from the start,” said Antonio Barra Torres from the board of the health authority and further explained: “The four players are now being deported from Brazil because of a number of violations fined against sanitary rules. ”
The health authority Anvisa had already stated before the kick-off that the four England legionaries should have given false information about their travel route. The quartet had come to Brazil with the Argentine team from Caracas. Upon entry, the England professionals did not state, according to the Anvisa, that they had been in the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, South Africa or India in the past 14 days.
Foreign travelers who were there during this period are not allowed to enter Brazil due to the corona restrictions. Romero, Lo Celso and Martinez started on Sunday.
Negotiations behind the scenes
Superstars Neymar and Messi on the pitch and representatives from both national associations behind the scenes tried to get the authorities to change their minds to ensure the game continued. Representatives of the Argentine embassy also made their way to the stadium.
But the efforts were in vain: almost 50 minutes after the incident, the referee Jesus Valenzuela (Venezuela) broke off the game. As the host of the World Cup, the world association FIFA will now decide on the next steps.
Show training of the Brazilians
The Brazilian Selecao, who had not left the pitch during the break, carried out training on the spot after the decision.
The questions remain open as to why the authority waited with the action until the game had already kicked off. And why the Argentines should have given false information, although it was easy to verify that the Premier League players recently played games in England. How the game will be scored or whether it will be repeated is also still unclear.
Dispute about shutdowns
Before the current World Cup qualifying matches, a dispute over terminations has escalated. Premier League clubs have refused to transfer players to countries on the British government’s red corona list.
Brazil was missing nine players from the Premier League and two professionals nominated from Russia.
Source: sportschau.de