The international break is ongoing and two of the top teams in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers, Argentina and Brazil, went face to face against each other on Monday at 12:30 am IST. The match had to be ended within five to six minutes as health officials from the Brazilian government intervened and stopped the match as four players had not complied to the Covid-19 guidelines.
The health officials told that the four players had lied to the immigration officers about returning from England. Emi Buendia, Emiliano Martinez, Giovani Lo Celso, and Cristian Romero were the four players who play in the English Premier League, were asked to return to their "country of origin".
The match was intervened by Brazillian health officials, much to the displeasure of the home and away team players. CONMEBOL later gave a statement and said: “By decision of the match referee, the match organized by FIFA between Brazil and Argentina for the World Cup Qualifiers is suspended.”
England is one of the countries red-listed by the Brazillian government to tackle the threat of Covid-19. Patrons coming from England are compelled to undergo a compulsory 14-day quarantine. Despite returning from England, the four mentioned Argentine players were spotted in the team bus. This was a breach of the quarantine rules and thus, the match had to be stopped.
“A match between some of the best in the world ends like this. I would like people in Argentina to understand that as a coach I have to take care of my players. If people come and say they have to deport them, I will not allow,” Lionel Scaloni told channel TyC Sports. “We wanted to play the match, so did the Brazilians," he added.
Brazil’s soccer confederation interim president Ednaldo Rodrigues also found the actions of the health officials to be "strange". “At no moment was the Brazilian soccer confederation in favor of this,” he told TV Globo.
The four Argentine players will be fined as per the Brazillian government's rules.