Brazilian Health Authorities stormed the field and stopped Argentina’s World Cup qualifier against Brazil in Sunday’s World Cup football news. They were there to deport four Argentina players who lied about coming to Brazil from the United Kingdom (more news). One of these four players facing deportation, Emiliano Martinez, discusses the Brazil-Argentina suspension now.
Argentina’s national team’s goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez believes Argentina’s World Cup qualifier against Brazil witnessed a suspension due to “political reasons”.
Martinez was one of three English Premier League players to start the qualifier match between the two South American heavyweights.
Argentina played against Brazil, the hosts, on Sunday at the Neo Quimica Arena, in São Paulo for 8 whole minutes.
However, Brazilian health officials arrived on the field shortly after this start and called off the game.
They then proceeded to apprehend four Argentinian national players viz. Emiliano Martinez, Emiliano Buendia, Cristian Romero, and Giovani Lo Celso.
Brazil has designated the United Kingdom as a red-listed country (and vice versa).
The South American nation has restricted entry to those who have spent the previous 14 days in the United Kingdom.
Prior to this, Brazil had called up nine Premier League players for their September games, but none of them traveled.
Anvisa, Brazil’s health authority, said in a widely released statement shortly before Sunday’s game: “Anvisa considers the situation a serious health risk and so has asked local health authorities to determine the immediate quarantine of the players, who are [not allowed to participate] in any activity and [are in need of prevention] from remaining on Brazilian soil.”
Emiliano Martinez Discusses the Brazil-Argentina Suspension
Argentinian goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is now about to return to the UK with his Aston Villa teammate Emiliano Buendia.
Buendia did not play on Sunday, unlike the other three players, who are from Tottenham Hotspur excepting Martinez.
Now however, the two Emilianos will travel via Croatia due to quarantine restrictions, according to Sky Sports.
Emiliano Martinez, a former Arsenal goalkeeper, spoke to reporters at Ezeiza International Airport and slammed Brazil’s decision to suspend play.
“We all know what happened. We prepare for three days in Brazil to play the game and having it cancelled after five minutes is a bitter feeling,” he said.
Martinez added: “We gave everything to win it and for political reasons, I don’t know what happened, it was cancelled and we had to go back.
“There were rumours about those from the Premier League, who could not play the game, but they could have warned us when we arrived in Brazil, and we did not make enough trouble to cancel the game. Simple. They could have warned us before.
“It’s a shame because we were going to win. We were confident, the team was doing well.”
He finally said: “We did not understand anything. We stayed for half an hour to see if we would go out to play or warm up again, and after 30 or 40 minutes, they told us we had to go.”
