The Conmebol Council on Saturday decided to suspend the double date of Qatar’s 2022 World Cup South American qualifiers in March, given the European leagues’ refusal to give up footballers due to the coronavirus pandemic.
After holding another virtual meeting with FIFA, the South American Confederation communicated: “The CONMEBOL Council has decided to suspend the double date of the Qatar 2022 qualifiers scheduled for March. The decision is due to the inability to have all South American players on time and in shape”
“FIFA will analyze the rescheduling of the date, in consultation with CONMEBOL and the affiliated associations. The different options for holding the matches will be explored shortly.”Added ..
The announcement does not provide details on the likely dates for the dispute over the fifth and sixth dates, although federation presidents expect them to move to the months of September or October.
European clubs, especially those of English and German football, protested against the release of the South American teams because of the risk of contamination and because they will have to undergo a 10-day quarantine upon return.
In England, for example, authorities require travelers from South America to be isolated for 10 days, making it impossible for footballers to attend decisive matches for their clubs.
For this reason, FIFA avoided pressure on these institutions to transfer their players to the national teams.
“We don’t have to let the players go and all clubs agree that we can’t let them leave and then do a 10-day quarantine,” said the Liverpool manager., Jürgen Klopp.
“I understand the different needs of the federations, but we are at a time when not everyone can be satisfied and the players are paid by the clubs. This means that we have to be the priority.”the German pointed out.
Without being able to count the voters by their big numbers, the situation generated likely solution scenarios that failed to reach the consensus of the ten federations affiliated to Conmebol.
Some countries, such as Uruguay and Paraguay, suggested playing with players from the local leagues according to the March agenda. And the option to transfer the ten games of that double schedule to European territory was even proposed.
Conmebol emphasized this Friday that “FIFA pledged to continue to look for a solution to the deadlock caused by South American players playing in European competitions not being released in favor of their national teams. “
Last year, the entity managed to start the South American qualifiers and developed the first four days without any setbacks, even though there was no crowd in the stands and under strict sanitary measures.
The protocol was also applied to complete the Libertadores and Sudamericana Cups schedule.
However, the advance of Covid-19 in the region has intensified in recent weeks with new outbreaks in countries like Brazil, while in other countries there have been delays in vaccination processes.
In fact, this Friday in Brazil, the suspension of regional tournaments was announced to stop the spread of coronavirus cases, and the Colombian Ministry of Health announced that it would not allow the participation of the Canarinha team for the game scheduled in Barranquilla. on the 26th.
The double round of the South American qualifiers was originally scheduled for March 25 with Bolivia-Peru, Venezuela-Ecuador and Chile-Paraguay matches.
On the 26th, the meetings between Colombia-Brazil and Argentina-Uruguay will conclude on that date.
Due to the initial programming, the sixth day would be fully concluded on March 30 with the following meetings: Ecuador-Chile, Uruguay-Bolivia, Paraguay-Colombia, Peru-Venezuela and Brazil-Argentina.
After the first four rounds, Brazil leads with 12 of the 12 possible points. They are followed by Argentina with 10, Ecuador with 9, Paraguay and Uruguay with 6, Chile and Colombia with 4, Venezuela with 3 and Bolivia with one.