On the next day, in the Premier League, several stars should not be observed due to the sanction that FIFA will impose on clubs that did not lend to their players.
It would have been prudent to consult the passenger lists on flights from Europe to South America before attempting to pick a favorite from all three CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers.
Paraguay has missed Miguel Almirón of Newcastle, its main star; Chile were left without Ben Brereton Diaz of Blackburn Rovers, the young striker who made such a positive impression in the Copa America and Mexico could not have Raul Jimenez. These and other England players are caught in the middle of an ugly tug-of-war between their clubs and national teams, in a situation where it is not easy to identify the good ones.
Brazil was left without its nine Premier League players: Alisson, Fabinho, Roberto Firmino (Liverpool); Ederson, Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City); Thiago Silva (Chelsea); Fred (Manchester United); Richarlison (Everton); and Raphinha (Leeds United).
According to various reports, FIFA would sanction all clubs that did not lend their players for international commitments and will not be able to count on them for the next day of the Premier League Liverpool being the most affected, not being able to have at their disposal the Egyptian Mohamed Salah, who was also banned by the Reds from joining the ranks of his team. Anfield’s next game is against Leeds and they will then face AC Milan on the opening day of the Champions League.
For its part, Argentina managed to bring four players: he made a deal with Aston Villa to get Emiliano Martinez and Emiliano Buendia for two of the three games, and sources told him ESPN that Argentines playing for Tottenham, Cristian Romero and Giovani El Celso will be fined by their club for making the trip without their consent – after what happened last Sunday in the Brazil vs. Argentina, perhaps they wished they had stayed in England.
Many European clubs were reluctant to lend players for this controversial triple day of FIFA Date: an additional match was added to the calendar, which means the games end on Thursday night, two days later than it is. usual.
There is an additional problem in the UK given the mandatory 10-day quarantine for those arriving from so-called “red list” countries (which are perceived as high risk of COVID-19 transmission). The problem here, when it comes to clubs, is not only that players will be in quarantine, but that these days they would spend them in a hotel room, which would lead to an inevitable loss of fitness.
This has been done reciprocally in Brazil. The four Argentine players playing in the Premier League were deemed not to have met the quarantine requirement for people who have been in the UK for the past 14 days, leading to ridiculous scenes in Sao Paulo on Sunday when the match was interrupted at minute six by officials of the Brazilian health authority demanding the departure of these players.
FIFA now has the difficult task of deciding what to do with this match. The authorities of South American football were happy to pass the ball to FIFA. The ideal scenario would be to reschedule the game, but that is the key issue behind the whole mess When? No dates available. As soon as the decision was made to move on with the Copa America about three months ago, the continent had been left with no margin for error and with many chances of calendar conflict.
What happened in Sao Paulo is unlikely to be the result of some intricate conspiracy. It is much more likely to have been the result of a number of factors that combined: bureaucratic complications, negligence, poor communication, incompetence, arrogance, deception, excessive zeal, and lack of common sense. The Sao Paulo farce will make European clubs even more cautious when it comes to releasing their players for next month’s FIFA date. There is an urgent need to involve all parties in the negotiating table and try to find a solution.