A qualifying match for the Qatar 2022 World Cup between Brazil and Argentina was abruptly suspended by Brazilian health officials who entered the field this Sunday amid a great uproar because four Argentine players did not comply with sanitary measures.
The match between Argentine star Lionel Messi and Brazilian Neymar Júnior was stopped in the 7th minute due to the extraordinary interruption.
The referee finally suspended the game with the score at 0-0 after players, coaches, football officials and local authorities argued for several minutes on the NeoQuimica Arena field.
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The Brazilian health agency, Anvisa, had notified the Federal Police on Sunday about the irregular situation of four Argentine players who play for clubs in England: Emiliano Martínez, Giovani Lo Celso, Cristian Romero and Emiliano Buendía.
Lionel Messi talks to Neymar Jr. after the qualifying match between the two teams was interrupted by Brazilian health authorities at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo on September 5, 2021. Gustavo Pagano / Getty Images
Anvisa reported that after entering Brazil on Thursday, the four players should have served a two-week quarantine because England is one of the countries considered to be of health risk.
He also stressed that the players did not declare their passage through England when entering the country, and asked that they be deported.
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Current Brazilian health regulations require that people who have been in the United Kingdom, India and South Africa in the last 14 days must comply with a mandatory 10-day quarantine and, according to Anvisa, athletes provided "false information" in this regard during their registration process. immigration.
The media and the Brazilian authorities charged the team led by Lionel Scaloni.
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“We got to this point because everything Anvisa directed was not fulfilled.
(The players) had guidance to remain isolated in the hotel to await deportation.
But it was not fulfilled, "said Antonio Barra Torres, president of Anvisa, to TV Globo.
Argentine footballers from England had only notified their last origin, Caracas, where they played a knockout match against the Venezuelan team.
With the match suspended, Brazil decided to hold an open training session for the press and the public of 1,500 guests who were at the Corinthians World Cup stadium and thus prepare for Thursday's match at the Arena Pernambuco stadium in Recife against Peru.
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Argentina, for its part, left the stadium heavily escorted by the Police and went to the hotel in the municipality of Guarulhos, from where it will embark for Buenos Aires and receive Bolivia on Thursday at the Monumental Stadium in Núñez.
Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of President Jair Bolsonaro, lashed out at foreign footballers.
Neymar Jr. talks to Lionel Messi after the match was interrupted at the Arena stadium in Sao Paulo.EFE / Sebastiao Moreira
“The Argentines played a trick.
They knew they were breaking Brazilian law, they prevented Anvisa from knowing about them and, by force, they put the 4 from England in formation.
The Federal Police must investigate who did not take action before the game and Argentina must be severely punished, ”the senator tweeted.
"World shame": Conmebol suspends the match and four Argentine players violated health laws, "headlined the sports portal Lance.
FIFA will be in charge of deciding the future of the match and that this Sunday captured the attention of the sixth day of the qualifying rounds of the Qatar World Cup in which Uruguay won, Ecuador yielded with Chile and Colombia drew with Paraguay.