Brazil’s World Cup qualifier against Argentina was suspended last night after medical officials walked onto the pitch in protest of Argentina’s Premier League players starting the game.
“Due to the decision of the game’s referee, the match organized by FIFA between Brazil and Argentina for the World Cup qualifiers is suspended,” CONMEBOL announced via Twitter.
CONMEBOL continued, “The referee and the match delegate will raise a report to FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee, which will determine the steps to follow. These proceedings will abide adhere to current regulations.”
According to the laws in place due to the coronavirus in Brazil, any person flying into the country would have to quarantine for a certain number of days. However, Emiliano Martinez, Giovanni Lo Celso, Cristian Romero and Emi Buendia were all part of Lionel Scaloni’s starting lineup in the big game.
Brazil vs. Argentina has been interrupted after Brazilian health officials walked on the pitch to confront the four Argentine Premier League players—Martinez, Buendia, Romero and Lo Celso—who traveled from the UK in the last 14 days & didn't quarantine, breaking Brazilian rules. pic.twitter.com/NNkJC7tPQe
— B/R Football (@brfootball) September 5, 2021
Argentinian Football Association (AFA) president Claudio Tapia released a statement saying, “What happened today is really unfortunate for football, it’s a very bad image. Four people came on to interrupt the match to make a statement and CONMEBOL asked that the players go to the dressing room.
“Here, you can’t speak about any lying because there’s a health legislation that regulates every South American tournament. The health authorities of each country approved a protocol which we followed to the letter.”
Since the match falls under the jurisdiction of FIFA, they will decide on the appropriate procedure to deal with the situation in due time. There is the probability that Brazil will have to forfeit the game since the error to inform Argentina beforehand was from their side. However, in all likelihood, the match will be replayed at a later date subject to announcement by the governing bodies.
