The coronavirus pandemic has forced confederations across FIFA to play condensed schedules for World Cup qualifying while navigating the ongoing pandemic with different health restrictions from country to country. Nothing about that is easy.
But few could have ever anticipated a scenario like the one the played out during Sunday’s CONMEBOL World Cup qualifier between Argentina and Brazil.
About seven minutes into the match in Sao Paulo, play was stopped when National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) officials and Brazilian police entered the pitch to detain (or deport) Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez, Emiliano Buendia, Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso — players from the Premier League’s Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.
According to multiple reports, the four players were under deportation order for failing to disclose that they had been in the United Kingdom in the past 14 days. The UK is part of Brazil’s travel ban.
