FIFA has already issued a statement warning national associations that decisions in the Premier League and La Liga should be discussed. English officials say they will not release players from their league for qualifying matches in the 60 countries listed as the UK’s red zone. The ten countries of football in South America are included in this list.
There is a reason for that. Anyone traveling to one of the Red List countries will have to self-quarantine upon return and pass two tests for the virus. The players are paid by the clubs. Nothing to argue about this. La Liga says it will support club decisions. For decades, the Spaniards have called the FIFA virus what we call FIFA dates, because athletes return after their qualifying injuries.
It is the burden of the calendar in which clubs and teams are fed. The presence of an Egyptian player in Liverpool increases the interest of the fans in Cairo – but he wants to see his star in his country’s shirt. It’s not quite the case, but there is still a dependency relationship. Nobody opens a window in Brazil to shout: “Liverpool goal.”
But the national team game still helps to involve people outside of football, especially in the World Cup finals.
If South American teams can no longer count on their best players during the pandemic, if they have played 30% less than the Europeans since the beginning of the pandemic, if they can’t face opponents from Europe, because of the League of Nations, then they can’t call up their best players, and it’s better Not playing the World Cup.
Lebanon 0-1 Qatar goal in the 2014 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers
Increasingly, selections are aggregated over 48 months. Playing without nine of the team because of the English blockade? Ok, but then I won’t play the cup.
Certainly there will be no problem. The Italians and Germans will dream of a penta, the Frenchman a triple, and there will be a lot of people watching the cup matches. But the bulk of the South American population will not attend the World Cup.
If the South American teams do not have the right to choose their best players, to join the team that will try to win the hexagon, it is better to stay at home.
