WCQ 2022: Matchday 6 - Brasil vs. Argentina (September 5, 2021)

I don't know if the players lost make much of a difference. Brazil is deep, plus their key players today - Casemiro, Neymar - are expected to play.

They do lose their top two goalkeepers, but they have a good number three in Weverton. Marquinhos (out over yellow cards, not over EPL shenanigans) arguably is their biggest loss. Other than that, I don't see a difference maker in the guys lost relative to their replacements. The changes may work in their favor, as they can afford to experiment with a bit of recambio which in some cases - ie Militao over Thiago Silva, or adjustment to the forward line - seems to be overdue.

Brazil at home should still be favored. I'm cautiously optimistic, mostly because of the progress I've seen in our team, but I'd feel the same way if Brazil had all their players from the EPL.

 

Yeah, Marquinhos is a huge loss. Anyway, he is lost because of the rules, not because of European club interference, so the Brazilians can't complain about that one.

The other big negative factor for Brazil may be Neymar's physical condition. He showed against Chile that he can still be dangerous, but he didn't look to be at his best.

 

Per Ole, CONMEBOL stepped up for once and made Brazil desist:

“El dia previo al partido circuló una versión de que la Agencia Nacional de Vigilancia Sanitaria de Brasil (Anvisa) estaba presionando para deportar a cuatro jugadores de la Selección, luego Conmebol informó que existe un pacto firmado entre los diez países sudamericanos para respetar burbujas y demás.

Y horas antes del duelo, llegó la notificación oficial de Anvisa para deportar a Emiliano Martínez, Giovani Lo Celso, Cristian Romero y Emiliano Buendía. La Policía Federal fue al hotel donde concentran Lionel Messi y compañía.

Finalmente, la Confederación Sudamericana presionó a Confederación Brasileña y el plantel argentino se trasladó completo al estadio. Los cuatro pueden jugar”​

Still petty on Brazil’s part though.. even if nothing happened in the end, the police presence for hours at the hotel and the uncertainty of the situation inevitably affects the players’ psyche.

Even more reason to go out there and win today, as if the nature of the clasico itself wasn’t already enough motivation

 

LOL!

But, no, I don't think that's what happening here. I'm sure the players and the Brazilian federation have nothing to do with this. Most likely it's Brazilian public bureaucrats being pelotudos, as public bureaucrats everywhere usually are.

 

I’m with you... I almost feel like this is just one of those friendlies we get vs Brazil every now and then. I’m not really concerned with a loss.

At the same time beating them twice in their home within a 2 month span could throw them off right before Qatar. They’d go from being seen as the “unbeatable” SA superpower they were in June, to a flawed and questioned team on the eve of the WC. And we, on the other hand, would be fortified mentally by reinforcing that the Maracanzo was no mishap.

I know you weren’t saying that you don’t care if we win, but I’m just highlighting the importance this match could potentially have. A win would be very valuable, although a loss won’t really have much of an effect.

 

Maybe, but CONMEBOL had to pressure CBF with football-related penalties in order for them to drop the charges they were pushing for:

Ahí tomó cartas en el asunto la Conmebol. Le exigió a la CBF que deben respetar los acuerdos de eximición de cuarentenas, firmados por los diez países sudamericanos para poder llevar a cabo diferentes competiciones, como la Copa América que ganó Argentina, Copa Libertadores, Sudamericana y también Eliminatorias.

El aviso fue claro: se juega con esos cuatro jugadores argentinos o Brasil pierde los puntos. Es más, si no se respetaba esa eximición de cuarentena, pactada desde hace meses, el jueves Brasil debería cambiar de sede (recibe a Perú en Recife) y hacer de local en otro país. Hubo tensión.
​

So whether or not this all originated from CBF we’ll never know, but they certainly were supporting the initiative and trying to get the 4 players to be ineligible.

 

Ultimately, it's best if everyone gets to play, but since the articles I've seen aren't clear enough, I'm going to throw this out here:

Does any Argentinian source have a clear indication of what the immigration forms ask for and what the AFA filled out (or didn't fill out)?

My assumption is that if they had declared England as a place they had been, everything would have been dealt with at the entry point.

Since they didn't, someone decided to be a hero whistleblower and get this mess started.

Maybe the forms aren't clear and it was a genuine mistake by AFA, maybe the forms clearly state "England" and they wanted to avoid a hassle so they didn't check the box.

At any rate, with the match 1 hour away and the players confirmed, it's a non-issue, but without the details, the press was just assuming AFA lied on immigration forms, whether intentionally or not.

 

Well, no, because Brazilian immigration had no role in this until you enter Brazilian territory.

They don't have to fib, they could make a mistake. Similarly, our immigration forms could be unclear and therefore partially responsible for the issue. I'm asking for more sources for a complete picture so I can stop speculating, which I did plenty of above.

 

The Copa America champs looking at Dybala like "who the ******** are you??"