Brazil vs Argentina World Cup Match Suspended by Health Officials Due to COVID-19 Protocols

A skirmish happened in the World Cup qualifier between Argentina and Brazil when health officials ran on the field disrupting the game and football betting.

The World Cup qualifying match between Brazil and Argentina was temporarily suspended due to an allegation of a breach in COVID-19 protocols by the Argentinian players.

A Sudden Disruption

In the middle of the game of the clash between the South American football giants at Neo Quimica Arena in Sao Paulo, several Brazilian health officials ran onto the field causing a melee of team officials and players. The 

The surreal disruption happened just hours after the officials revealed that four of the players from England in Argentina’s side should be placed under quarantine immediately for violating the COVID-19 prevention protocols.

The National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) of Brazil revealed that players of Premier League, Emiliano Buendia (Aston Villa), Giovani Lo Celso (Tottenham), Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa), and Cristian Romero (Tottenham) have given false information when they enter Brazil.

Lo Celso, Martinez, Buendía and Romero were all included in the roster for Argentina for the game on Sunday, which triggered the unexpected intervention of health officials from ANVISA.

Strong Allegations

The officials simply claimed that the quartet violated the COVID-19 protocols by not revealing that they spent time in Britain in the last 14 days prior to their entry in Brazil. The UK is one of the nations in Brazil’s watch list following the country’s COVID-19 casualty of 580,000 lives.

The captain of Argentina squad and global superstar, Lionel Messi and his team left the field after the scuffle, while the Brazilian side started to play a practice game.

Messi later criticized the disruption made by the Brazilian officials in an interview on TYC network of Argentina.

He said, “We’ve been here for three days, why are you doing this just now?” 

The coach of Argentina’s team Lionel Scaloni also said, “At no time were we told that they could not play the game.”

The Argentinian team later flew back to Buenos Aires on Sunday evening.

The president of the Football Association of Argentina Caludio Tapia said that they followed the COVID-19 protocols prior to the game and the Brazilian official’s claim was just a false allegation. 

Tapia stated, “It is not possible to speak of any lie.”

Multiple Violations

However, the Brazilian health officials were unapologetic about their decision to intervene in the match.

ANVISA director Antonio Barra Torres said in an interview, “We got to this point because everything that ANVISA directed, from the first moment, was not fulfilled. The four players were directed to remain isolated while awaiting deportation, but they did not comply. They went to the stadium and they entered the field, in a series of breaches.”

The Brazilian government released an executive order on June 23 that banned the travel of any foreigner into any territory in Brazil from the ations of India, United Kingdom or South Africa where the cases were severe, to prevent the further spread of the new variants of the coronavirus.

“ANVISA considers that this situation represents a serious health risk and recommends that the local health authorities of Sao Paulo order the immediate quarantine of the players, who are prohibited from taking part in any activity and from remaining on Brazilian territory,” the agency said in a statement earlier Sunday.

Aftermath

The South American branch of FIFA, CONMEBOL, commented that the match was suspended but did not rule out the possibility of a replay or if either the team would renounce the game. 

“By decision of the match referee, the match organized by FIFA between Brazil and Argentina for the qualifiers for the World Cup is suspended. The referee and the match commissioner will submit a report to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, which will determine the steps to follow. These procedures adhere strictly to current regulations,” according to the official statement of CONMEBOL.

With the match being disrupted it has included Singapore pools odds betting and the rest of the live streaming platforms that are showing live coverage of the game.

As for now, it is not clear if the match will continue between the two long-time rival football countries in South America.