Chile Are On Our Case

I believe they won’t ban him …but the referee will be required to send him off immediately after kick off so we play with 10.

 

All English based players who didn't travel for international duty have been banned for this weekend's game.

 

So Sierralta is out then. So is Jimenez.

 

So somebody on Twitter says.

 

Pozzo vs Fifa.

 

With Nadhim Zahawi posing as linesman

 

I suppose this might be less of a problem post-covid (whenever that may be), but could this develop into a power struggle between FIFA and the Premier League? FIFA, as they have done for many years, are obviously trying to protect the primacy of their competition and international football in general but the Premier League will also want to protect their ‘product’. If top players are prevented from playing domestic games it devalues that competition and the PL should support their member clubs against it.

 

Presumably we just call up our as yet untried youngster Frank Orionalta ? Big Sth American youngster.

 

If I have red each countries regs correctly, Sierralta would have had to isolate for 10 days when arriving in Chile as the UK is on Chile'sored list. Then when he returned he would need to isolate for another 10 days as Chile is on the UK's red list, so then include the days for actually playing the internationals and he would have been out for a month!

 

Absolutely ridiculous that players are being called up under these circumstances. They might not even get to play in the international concerned.

 

This might be a controversial suggestion as it would not benefit some countries like Venezuela, Peru or Bolivia, but a lot of South American countries' players play in European leagues, would it not have been possible to play some of these qualifiers in Europe somewhere to help avoid this shambles?

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58486811

5 days suspension is still a better outcome than having players sit in a Holiday Inn for 10 days and then having to get back up to speed.

 

The only plus point is that Jimenez is also suspended.

An absolute farce and concrete Covid rules need to be made ahead of the next international period.

How about simply no movement to or from Red lists - or is common sense not a thing these days?

 

I guess each country has a different interpretation of a red list.

What is happening to new zealand and aussie players? New Zealand in particular has very draconian quarantine rules in place...

 

I think Australia played in Vietnam yesterday.

 

I think common-sense has to prevail here. Covid-19 has not just disappeared. It's still as deadly as it ever was. If countries like Chile, Brazil, Mexico are on the red list, it's because they've not got on top of the problem.

Why should we send our healthy players to an unsafe location? What if a player goes to one of these countries, gets the virus and dies. What's the excuse then?

It's a serious risk, and people should stop pretending the virus is not a problem anymore.

It's just pettiness that these countries want these players to have a ban. What purpose is that going to serve? The only reason they are not going is because of health reasons. If FIFA side with the complaint of the nations, then Infantino should lose his job instantly. Just as bad a Blatter.

 

I don't think most people are in the position where two elite (yeah yeah, I know) outfits are fighting over them lol

 

I reckon a 5 day ban isn't high on their list of priorities. Suspect they're more bothered about being accused of turning their backs on their nation and losing sponsorships etc.

 

We are on Chile's and Brazil's red list also I believe so the problem is both ways.

 

Is Sierralta important enough to Chile to still get in the team after this? They seem a middling South American nation with or without him, a far cry from the team which won the Copa America twice in a row (in consecutive years of course, because CONMEBOL gonna CONMEBOL lol)

 

What is interesting about this is that the health authorities wouldn't have allowed the banned players to play anyway. It was them that stopped the Brazil Argentina game. Now FIFA are considering punishing both Brazil and Argentina because the game wasn't played.

 

Ii think that it is only New South Wales that is a problem in Australia. New Zealand are in the Oceania Federation and they play their qualifying games in a single tournament sometime later this year I think.

 

It seems the ban is an attempt to encourage the UK Gov to back down on travel exemptions. Talks between the PL, Fifa and UK Gov are ongoing. The ban will be lifted if the players can travel for the next international breaks. I still think the PL should challenge FIFAs 'right' to act like d1ck$ during a pandemic in court.

 

Useful update on From the Rookery End:

'as it stands, he is unavailable. Unless less something changes... and the situation is fluid'.

 

That's a bit of a cheap jibe at the podcast Steve. For once that probably perfectly reflects the club's understanding of the situation too. There are bigger boys playing in this particular playground and Watford just have to stand on the sidelines and see what happens before Saturday with FIFA, the PL, the govt, the European Club Association etc...

 

From the club’s team news update this morning:

“In light of the ongoing issues regarding players called up for international duty in purely red list countries, the Hornets remain (along with their fellow Premier League clubs) in discussion with relevant stakeholders regarding Francisco Sierralta’s availability for this weekend’s fixture.”

 

The whole thing is a bit of a farce if Richarlison gets to play for Everton just because they have a good relationship with Brazil since he was allowed to play at the Olympics. It should be a blanket FIFA rule, albeit a daft one under current covid conditions, not something each individual country can enforce on a whim.

 

Would be ironic if Richarlison turns out to have Covid and spreads it to other players at the weekend

Not beyond the realms of possibility and would certainly add another layer of farce to the whole thing

 

Jiminez looks to be available.

https://twitter.com/TalkingWolves/status/1436301709110882322

 

The whole thing is a farce. It should be a FIFA ban or nothing. Individual federations should not have the power to make these exemptions.

No doubt ££££s are involved.