Sunday’s World Cup qualifying match at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo was set to be a huge faceoff between two of the world’s best: longtime rivals Argentina and Brazil. Argentina had not been beaten for 21 games. Brazil had won all of its first seven World Cup qualifying games. But Sunday’s highly anticipated match hardly made it a few minutes past kickoff because of missteps regarding covid-19 regulations.
Four players on the Argentine side play for teams in the English Premier League. Visitors to Brazil who have been in the United Kingdom within 14 days must quarantine for two weeks upon arrival, which none of the four players did before the scheduled start of Sunday’s match.