Brazil and Argentina are two of the globe’s soccer powerhouses. Their men’s national teams feature some of the best players in the world, including Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Brazil’s Neymar, and the two nations have a long-running rivalry. All of which made the prospect of Brazil and Argentina facing off in a World Cup qualifying match on Sunday thrilling for most aficionados of the sport.
And then, in the seventh minute of the game, health officials took to the pitch and halted the game.
The issue? A quartet of Argentinian players — three of whom were in the starting XI for their national team — who had come from England, where they play in the Premier League. Specifically, Tottenham Hotspur’s Giovani Lo Celso and Cristian Romero and Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martínez and Emiliano Buendia.
As The Athletic reported, health officials stated that the four players were nominally barred from entering Brazil, since they’d been in the U.K. in the last 14 days. Apparently, all four offered misinformation on their immigration forms, and once that was made clear, Brazil’s health agency Anvisa interceded. Anvisa plans to fine and deport them. It’s possible that the four could be imprisoned as well.
Some of the players and coached involved stated their frustration that the game had been allowed to begin; after all, that Lo Celso and company were at present was hardly a secret. “Why did they start the game and stop it after five minutes?” Messi could be heard to say on the match broadcast.
You might think that this was easily avoidable, and you’d be entirely correct. In late August, the Premier League stated that its teams would not release players for international duty if they’d be playing in “red list” countries. Nonetheless, some players ended up making the trip, with ornate quarantine plans involved. But if this match stoppage is any indication, it may have been all for naught — making an already complicated situation even more fraught.
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