Lionel Scaloni has called up Lisandro Martínez and Nicolás Tagliafico of Ajax for Argentina’s next three World Cup qualifiers. The national coach also included three Premier League players in his 30-man squad: goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa), Giovani Lo Celso and Cristian Romero (both Tottenham Hotspur). However, Argentina is still on the so-called ‘red’ list of the British government.
This means that travelers from that country will have to quarantine for ten days upon arrival in Great Britain. Argentine internationals would therefore not be able to play in the Premier League round on October 16 and 17. Nevertheless, Martínez, Lo Celso and Romero have been called up. At the beginning of this month, the Argentinians’ duel with arch-rival Brazil in São Paulo was stopped after a few minutes. Employees of the Brazilian health service came on the field because Martínez, Lo Celso and Romero would not have adhered to the quarantine rules.
#Eliminations Lista de convocados por el entrenador de la @Argentina, @lioscalonic, para la triple fecha de octubre pic.twitter.com/kBd3DFLks8
— Seleccion Argentina ???? (@Argentina) September 27, 2021
Upon arrival in Brazil, incorrect information would have been entered by or for the trio. FIFA has launched a disciplinary case over the suspended World Cup qualifier. For Ajax, the call from Martínez and Tagliafico means another problem. On October 8, Scaloni’s team will visit Paraguay, after which there will be home games with Uruguay and Peru in the following days. Especially that last duel is particularly bad for Ajax.
The game against Peru will be played on Thursday-evening, October 14 local time, or in the night of Thursday October 14 to Friday October 15, Dutch time. Erik ten Hag’s team will play an away game against sc Heerenveen on Saturday, October 16. At the beginning of this month, Ajax faced exactly the same problem. Tagliafico and Martínez then had to miss the game with PEC Zwolle, also on a Saturday, because Argentina had played against Bolivia on Thursday evening local time.
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