Is this a joke?
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Players have nothing to be blamed for. I'd do the same. Everybody would if we were to be called by the NT. This is all on Fifa.
The players have been accused of lying about not having been in the UK in the last 14 days.
The Arg FA have jurisdiction over their players and should have had a tighter grip over the goings on.
Aside from the fact that they changed their directive over player obligations during the week; it's on FIFA's watch that tonight's shit-show happened and whatever regulations have have in place it's a farce that thse players were allowed to the the field despite their own rulings.
As I understand it GLC & Romero will be forced to spend even more time away from Spurs in quarantine now.
Everyone knows they were in the UK in the last 14 days... they fucking work and live there.
Argentina FA should know the regulations and where the players have been.
Curious how you don't seem to place any blame on the Brazilian authorities
Sadly not
What footballer is going to turn down spending time with Messi? Just get them to Croatia, spend the 14 days getting their various injuries fixed and in a decent physical condition so they can contribute to the rest of the PL/UEL season for Spurs.
As far as the comms during the 'match' broadcast were concerned, the current regulations have been in place since June.
EDIT: I guess you're actually talking about them being sloppy enough to let it all happen... Fair point.
It seems quite obvious to me that the involved parties were trying to sneak one past the rules/regulations.
It's my impression/assumption that several blind eyes had been turned by the Arg FA... Meanwhile the players were clearly defiant from the off (perhaps in time details will emerge that that they were completely innocent in all this, but that doesn't sem very likely given the initial round of accusations happily broadcast on live TV!).
.......And then go through a similar shitshow in October.
I actually think it was stage managed more than sloppy
You think the whole thing was a scam by the Brazilians to make Arg forfeit?
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No, I think the Brazilian FA were caught unawares too.
Rather I suspect the hand of Bolsonaro
It is absolutely ludicrous for the Brazilian FA & Health Authorities to argue they didn't know UK-based players had been in the UK during the last 14 days.
I'm sure it would have been headline news in Brazilian newspapers as they moaned about their national team being without the UK-based Liverpool & Man City players.
FIFA appears to have decided its role was to threaten clubs with sanctions & suspensions of players if they were not released for South American WC qualifiers, whilst doing absolutely nothing to clarify the Covid rules for elite sportsmen involved in hugely lucrative football matches from which they would profit.
So, whilst FIFA counted the dollars they were about to make, I'm sure the mad fascist Bolsonaro was reading the papers and deciding he could exploit the sense of national grievance that GLC, Romero, Emi Martinez & Buendia were available whilst Alisson, Firminho, Fabinho, Ederson, Gabriel Jesus etc were not.
Perfect ground for a crazy stunt where health inspectors march onto a football pitch to detain players from a foreign nation.
Seriously, if this was about Covid, why wait for the match to kick off, with pictures being beamed around the world?
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That end of things makes perfect sense, but it doesn't explain the Arg end of things where the 'illegal' players were attempting to gain entry despite regulations that had been in place since June.
Media here still running with the suggestion that the 'players' lied.... Pretty libelous stuff to be casually slung about by the mainstream UK media, no?
You answered that with your own question, if it was about COVID, why wouldn't you wait until the match kicked off? Now it is 1,000x the story it would have been had they just stopped them at submission of team sheets, or quietly intercepted them pre-game (once clear reasonable time to leave country would be breached). What better way for the COVID Police to ensure agitated athletes tow the line more readily, broadcasting a new form of Policing without Police, Health Policing.
Completely contrived pantomime.
The current Conmebol protocol states that they could be in the country for 72 hours, and the FA of the home nation could then apply for extensions.
Argentina and Brazil most likely filed paperwork for said extensions which has probably "gone missing".
The Argentine players were not "attempting to gain entry" to Brazil. They did gain entry. They even made it onto the pitch and started playing one of the traditionally great fixtures of world football: Brazil vs Argentina.
As for the paperwork, I'm sure the details would have been filled in by the Argentine FA administrative staff, and then plonked in front of the players to sign.
Now, in strict legal terms, if you sign something you are legally responsible. Even though we all know that we put our name to all sorts of stuff (eg clicking on a social media page and accepting thousands of intrusions into our lives that we have no ability to control) on a daily basis.
But yes, that strict legal responsibility may be why the corporate lawyers of the UK press feel able to run with the "the players lied".
Fundamentally though, if this is about Covid regulations, stop the players coming in at the border.
Again, every Brazilian border guard will have read the local news moaning about UK-based Argentines coming to play against a Brazilian team without its UK-based players. They must have a hotline to the Covid police.
So stop them at the border if this is about Covid. But no, they waited until the match had KICKED OFF before sending health officials onto the pitch.
This isn't about keeping Brazil "safe from Covid mutations".
It was a stunt by the lunatic fascist Bolsonaro to boost his popularity. Straight out of the playbook of similar stunts by similarly crazy fascist dictators.
Of course, I'm well aware that they made it onto the pitch.
You'll note I wrote 'players' in inverted commas purposely. My point is less about whom and more about the accusation that someone "lied".
Already noted and recognised. Again; my point isn't to dispute this theory; just to point out that there are two things at play here.....
The other being the Arg intention to field the offending players and swerve the covid restrictions.
How the Brazillians chose to manipulate the former come after in the chain of events.
Not impressed. The club should be taking umbrage with FIFA, CONMEBOL and the FCF/AFA.
Not our players.