A World Cup qualifying match between Brazil and Argentina was stopped minutes before kickoff in Sao Paulo on Sunday due to multiple players breaking quarantine protocol, the Associated Press reported.
Health officials stormed onto the pitch at Corinthians Arena on Sunday, announcing that three Argentina players would have to leave the game due to a coronavirus breach when they traveled from England to participate in the match.
The Argentinian team walked off the pitch together and later tweeted that the match would be deemed a 0-0 draw.
Brazil’s health agency president Antonio Barra Torres shared that it will fine and deport four Argentine players — Emiliano Martinez, Emiliano Buendia, Giovanni Lo Celso, and Cristian Romero — for not following the country’s COVID protocol, according to the AP.
The four Argentine players, who all play in the English Premier League, were ordered to quarantine for the last 14 days. But Anvisa alleges that the four players told immigration officers that they haven’t been anywhere on Brazil’s red list of COVID-19 risk, the AP reported. The U.K. is on that list.
This comes amid a current surge of COVID-19 infections around the world, as the highly contagious delta variant is hitting the unvaccinated hard.
Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni told an international sports media outlet after the game that his players were disappointed with the outcome of events, adding that he will not allow officials to deport his players as well.
“A match between some of the best in the world ends like this. I would like people in Argentina to understand that as a coach I have to take care of my players. If people come and say they have to deport them, I will not allow,” Scaloni said “We wanted to play the match, so did the Brazilians.”