Leo Messi and Neymar talk with officials of the Brazilian health agency. /
Qatar World Cup 2022
Messi’s selection is withdrawn after officials from the health agency entered the field for four players from England who entered the country with alleged false forms. They had to be deported
The game between Brazil and Argentina that was played this Sunday in Sao Paulo was permanently suspended when only five minutes had been played, after the intervention of the Brazilian national health surveillance agency (Anvisa), which accused four Argentine footballers of having violated the anticovid protocol. The Albiazules players, with Leo Messi at the head, left the pitch in the middle of the classic so that the order to deport four Argentine athletes who are active in English Premier League clubs and who had entered the country with alleged fake forms.
«We reached this point because everything that Anvisa directed, from the first moment, was not fulfilled. They were directed to remain isolated while awaiting deportation, but did not comply. They move to the stadium and enter the field, in a series of breaches, “explained the director-president of the health surveillance agency, Antonio Barra Torres.
Barra Torres was referring to goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez and forward Emiliano Buendía, from Aston Villa, and defender Cristian Romero and midfielder Giovani Lo Celso, from Tottenham, who are accused of giving “false information” to enter Brazil and thus be able to dispute the qualifying match for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
The four players lied on the entry form to Brazil, by failing to report that they were in the United Kingdom at some point in the fourteen days prior to their arrival in the country, according to Anvisa. A ministerial order of June 23 prohibits the entry into Brazilian territory of any foreign person from the United Kingdom, India or South Africa, to prevent the spread of variants of the coronavirus.
«Those four players have to be deported from Brazil. They will be fined and sanctioned for a series of sanitary infractions. The first offense was not fulfilling the isolation, the previous one for not having answered the traveler questionnaire reliably, and now for playing. With more than 500,000 dead in Brazil, in the midst of the pandemic, orders are being breached, I don’t know by whom, “added Barra Torres.
Martínez, Romero and Lo Celso were on the field, while Buendía was not called up to be part of the Albiceleste team for the clash against ‘Canarinha’. The game was interrupted in minute 5 by a game action, but a couple of minutes later a group of Anvisa officials entered the field with orders against the four Argentine players.
By decision of the match referee, the match organized by FIFA between Brazil and Argentina for the World Cup Qualifiers is suspended.
CONMEBOL.com (@CONMEBOL) September 5, 2021
In the midst of clashes with some of those officials, the Albiceleste players retired to the changing rooms, while the eleven Brazilian players waited on the field of the Neo Química Arena stadium, formerly Arena Corinthians, in Sao Paulo.
Brazil organized the last Copa América after Argentina and Colombia refused to act as hosts due to the effects of the pandemic. Then, Jair Bolsonaro, president of Brazil, extended a hand to Conmebol. The Supreme Court authorized the celebration after the request for the suspension of the tournament by a federal deputy, Julio César Delgado, from the Brazilian Socialist Party, and another from the National Confederation of Metallurgists. There was also a third request from the Workers’ Party.
«The referee and the match commissioner will submit a report to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, which will determine the steps to follow. These procedures strictly adhere to current regulations. The qualifying rounds for the World Cup are a FIFA competition. All decisions concerning its organization and development are the exclusive power of that institution, “Conmebol concluded in a statement. The great South American classic ended in a world grotesque.
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