BRAZIL’S World Cup qualifier against Argentina in Sao Paulo has been ABANDONED after astonishing scenes.
Health chiefs stormed onto the pitch after just five minutes of play to try and detain Argentina’s four Premier League players – Emiliano Buendia, Emiliano Martinez, Giovani lo Celso and Cristian Romero – who had flown in from the UK on a private jet to play in the game.
Buendia and Martinez play for Aston Villa, while Lo Celso and Romero feature for Tottenham.
The Brazil health officials tried to detain the UK-based players because of a Covid-19 breach saying they had to quarantine.
Under Brazilian rules, visitors who have been in the UK in the 14 days before entering the country must quarantine for 14 days on arrival.
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Follow ALL of the latest developments below…
CATCHUP
If you’ve just tuned in or have been hiding under a rock for the last couple of hours, Brazilian Public Health Officials raided the field to stop play only five minutes into the game.
Their reasoning behind this was that four players in the Argentinian squad who play their club football in England, were not permitted to take part in the match due to Covid-19 protocols.
United Kingdom is on Brazil’s red list so therefore any individual who has been in the UK, travelling to Brazil has to quarantine for a 10-day period at minimum.
The players who had breached Government guidelines were Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa) Emiliano Buendia (Aston Villa) Cristian Romero (Tottenham Hotspur) Giovanni Lo Celso (Tottenham Hotspur).
However, the confusion is that the players were given the green light by their respected clubs so everyone is trying to figure out which wires got crossed and why did it happen during the game.
DISCIPLINARY
The referee and match commissioner has been ordered to submit a report to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee which will determine the steps to be followed.
These procedures will strictly adhered to all the current regulations.
UPDATE
Argentinian officials have been filmed loading boxes of what looks to be the players individual cases of kits and boots into the back of a truck.
Surely that means the game is completely off?
Meanwhile, the Brazilian’s are still having their inhouse training session match on the field.
TAPIA TALKS
The President of the Argentine Football Association, Claudio Tapia has now also spoken.
What happened today is unfortunate for football, it is a very bad image.
Four people entered to interrupt the game to make a notification and CONMEBOL asked the players to go to the locker room.
You cannot talk about any lie here because there is health legislation under which all South American tournaments are played.
The health authorities of each country approved protocol that we have been fully complying with
Claudio Tapia
CONMEBOL CALLING
CONMEBOL confirming that the game has been suspended but it is still unclear whether the game has been abandoned.
BRAZIL 0-0 BRAZIL
WHAT A SAVE!
Brazil’s training session is quite entertaining I must admit.
TRAINING DAY
Still no official confirmation that the game has been postponed but one thing for certain is that the Brazilian’s are using this time to do a training drill.
Yes, the Brazil national team are currently on the pitch having a training session.
SUFFERING SCALONI
The coach of Argentina has spoken.
At no time were we notified that they could not play the match. We wanted to play the match the Brazilian footballers too.
It should have been a party for everyone to enjoy the best players in the world. I would like the people of Argentina to understand that as a coach, I have to defend my players.
It makes me very sad, I am not looking for a culprit. If something happened or did not happen, it was not the time to make that intervention.
Lionel Scaloni
THIS GOT MESSI
The moment Brazilian Public Health Officials storm the pitch to deport four Argentinian players who have been in the country since last week.
UPDATE ALERT
I must stress that this is unconfirmed but reports suggest that Brazil are about to conduct a training session because the Argentinian players are preparing to leave the stadium on a coach.
Like I said, nothing has been confirmed but for all of us getting our hopes up that the game is going to continue, it’s looking highly unlikely.
POSITIVTE SIGNS
The Brazilian national team have started warming up again as the talks between officials continue.
Could the match resume?
CONFUSED.COM
If an image could speak a thousand words.
Nobody has an idea what is going to happen.
BREAKING NEWS
Reports are suggesting from the stadium that the traffic regulators are organising for a coach to come and pick up the Argentinian players take them to an unknown destination.
Nothing official yet but we will soon see if this is true.
35 MINUTES AND COUNTING
Players, coaches and fans are still awaiting confirmation on whether the game will continue and it has been more than 35 minutes now.
The longer this goes on, the more you get the feeling that the match will be called off.
SUSPENDED
As the chaos continues to unfold, the Argentinian Twitter account has just tweeted that the game between themselves and Brazil has been suspended.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Both Brazil and Argentina are bound to qualify for the 2022 Qatar World Cup because the top four go through and they are both ahead of the pack.
But if this game was to be postponed, would the points be awarded to Brazil?
Or would they reschedule this fixture?
And will there be any repercussions for Argentina despite being given the green light for the players to travel?
So many questions and so little answers but one thing for certain, we will keep you updated right here on SunSport.
DEPORTATION
The Brazilian health officials takeover.
RECAP
So the game kicked off and around five minutes into play, the Brazilian health officials came onto the field to address the deportation issue with the Argentinian national team players who are based in England that have travelled to Brazil.
A couple minutes later, the Argentinian players were ordered to leave the pitch whilst the situation gets sorted.
This could take some time to resolve but what I don’t understand is why let the game start in the first place?
The Brazilian players are just standing on the pitch waiting in suspense to see if the game will continue.
THE GAME HAS CURRENTLY BEEN STOPPED
BRAZIL 0-0 ARGENTINA
10. My word you just couldn’t write this.
The Argentinian players are leaving the pitch because the officials on the pitch are indeed Brazilian health officials who are adamant on deporting the four Argentine players.
Wow, this is crazy!
BRAZIL 0-0 ARGENTINA
8. Hold on a minute!
The commentator is guessing that the people on the pitch could be the Brazilian health authorities who have something to say about the four Argentina players who had a deportation order before the game.
BRAZIL 0-0 ARGENTINA
6. Not even 10 minutes in and the play has been stopped because the guys in the technical area aren’t behaving themselves.
The referee is under immense pressure at the moment.
BRAZIL 0-0 ARGENTINA
3. OOOOFFFF this is what rivalries are all about!
Lucas Paqueta put in a reckless challenge on Rodrigo De Paul just to let him know what kind of a game this is.
Thankfully it wasn’t too dangerous but nevertheless it was a definite foul.
BRAZIL 0-0 ARGENTINA
1. Quick update ICYMI
Brazilian head coach, Tite has to make do without NINE of his players who currently play their club football in England due to the 10-day quarantine rule.
Alisson (Liverpool) Fabinho (Liverpool), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Ederson (Manchester City), Thiago Silva (Chelsea), Fred (Manchester United), Richarlison (Everton) and Raphinha (Leeds) are all the Brazilians who are unable to make Septmeber’s qualifiers.
Which is why it’s interesting that the Argentinian players who are part of Premier League teams were given the green light.
BRAZIL 0-0 ARGENTINA
1. IT’S GO TIME!
Finally one of the biggest rivalry’s in football kicks off and I hope we witness nothing but wonderful crafted goals tonight.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
