It was another Super Clasico since the Copa America final at Maracana. Brazil and Argentina met each other at the Corinthians Arena for the World Cup Qualifiers and the match had barely passed five minutes when scores of officers stormed the pitch, to the incredulity of both teams.
Just three minutes in, this one is already tense after
Cristian Romero lands a tough tackle on Eder Militao. Brazil are angry because
it was a tough challenge and Argentina are frustrated because they thought they
were off on a good counterattack.
There were sparks on the pitch and on the sidelines,
seemingly because members of the authorities are trying to stop the match due
to the issue, we reported before the game regarding Emiliano Martinez, Cristian
Romero, Gio Lo Celso and Emiliano Buendia.
As some members of the Argentina squad tried to push the
delegates off the pitch, a mini brawl broke out.
Argentina’s players are furious and have walked off, while
Neymar and his Brazil teammates are in conversation with the officials to try
to work out what is actually going on.
Dani Alaves had gone to find Lionel Messi and has brought
him out of the dressing room. Messi – who was wearing a bib by then and not his
shirt, suggesting Argentina are not sitting waiting to come back – spoke with a
few of the Brazil players he knew best and with Tite and his own coach Lionel
Scaloni.
After a talk between the captains and the coaches, Messi
walked back off the pitch again. He was now in the tunnel, continuing his
conversation with Dani Alves.
Argentina were frustrated and seemed like leaving the
stadium soon, although it remained to be seen what will happen with the four
players – Emiliano Martinez, Cristian Romero, Gio Lo Celso and Emiliano Buendia
– on whom the Brazilian authorities claim broke quarantine procedure.
The drama started in the hours before the match, as reports
emerged that Argentine’s Premier League quartet of Emiliano Martinez, Cristian
Romero, Gio Lo Celso and Emiliano Buendia were to be deported because they
hadn’t correctly filled out quarantine paperwork for those arriving in Brazil
who had recently been in England.
The wanted trio and Buendia came from the United Kingdom,
which is one of the countries on Brazil’s own red list.
Under national law, foreign travellers from the country must
complete a 14-day quarantine once they have landed.
The Argentine Premier League contingent, however, only declared that they had been to Caracas, the site of the Albiceleste’s last World Cup qualifier against Venezuela, and did not reveal to immigration and health authorities that they had been in the UK.
While Martinez, Romero, Buendia and Lo Celso had received
dispensation from their clubs to leave England other CONMEBOL nations were not
so lucky, with Brazil losing nine of their squad for these qualifiers as a
result of the division’s refusal to release players to red list countries.
Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 06/9/2021 The match between Brazil and Argentina suspended
No comments:
Post a Comment