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The Brazil-Argentina qualifying match for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, interrupted last September for violation of anti-Covid protocols, will have to be replayed, Fifa announced on Monday. The body’s disciplinary committee imposed a fine of 550,000 Swiss francs (525,000 euros) on Brazil and 250,000 Swiss francs (238,000 euros) on Argentina.
The case sparked outrage from both teams. The Brazil-Argentina qualifying match for the 2022 World Cup, interrupted in September due to a health scandal, will have to be replayed, Fifa announced on Monday February 15, suspending several Argentinian players for two games and imposing fines on players. two nations, already qualified for Qatar.
The Argentine federation immediately announced its desire to appeal this decision, through its president Claudio Tapia on Twitter. In a press release, the Brazilian federation also expressed its “disagreement”.
As President of @GrandpaI promise to make all the necessary efforts, and to appeal FIFA’s ruling in reference to the qualifying match with Brazil.
Our priority is the Selection @Argentina Always ????????– Chiqui Tapia (@tapiachiqui) February 14, 2022
The match, originally scheduled for September 5 in Sao Paulo, was interrupted after only five minutes of play following the intervention of Brazilian health authorities, four Argentinian players then playing in England being accused of violating anti-Covid-19 protocols.
Representatives of the Anvisa health agency and the federal police entered the field to end the meeting, in total confusion.
“The Disciplinary Committee has decided to replay this match on a date and in a place to be determined by Fifa,” the international federation wrote in a press release.
A qualification despite everything assured
The final stoppage of this match did not prevent Neymar’s Brazil and Lionel Messi’s Argentina from subsequently winning their ticket for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (November 21-December 18), without waiting for the decision. of the Disciplinary Committee.
The holding of this poster by the final tournament should therefore have no accounting issue, apart from the fact of definitively closing the calendar of the single South American pool.
Noting “several breaches” on the part of the federations concerned, the Fifa disciplinary committee also imposed a fine of 550,000 Swiss francs (525,000 euros) in Brazil and 250,000 Swiss francs (238,000 euros) to Argentina.
Finally, the four Argentine players in question, Giovanni Lo Celso (then at Tottenham, now at Villarreal), Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa), Emiliano Buendia (Aston Villa) and Cristian Romero (Tottenham), were suspended for two matches.
They are accused by Brazilian health authorities of having provided “false information” when they arrived in the country, and of having violated a ministerial order prohibiting the entry into Brazil of any foreigner who has stayed in the United Kingdom in the previous two weeks.
Brazil, leader of the South American qualifications (39 pts) before the last two days scheduled for the end of March, is four points ahead of Argentina (35 pts). The two countries, assured of one of the first four qualifying places, have already validated their ticket for the World Cup-2022.
With AFP