Top stars like Paris Saint Germain forward, Lionel Messi, his club’s teammate, Neymar, and Liverpool forward, Mohamed Salah might not be available for the forthcoming rounds of World Cup qualifiers.
The reason for this is that Messi’s country, Brazil, Neymar’s Argentina, and Salah’s Egypt are on the red list of most European counties like the United Kingdom and France. This means that the countries are danger zones when it comes to the dreaded coronavirus pandemic.
Based on the regulations in the United Kingdom, any person that arrives in the UK from those countries would have to observe 10 days quarantine in a government-controlled isolation center.
Two days after such a person is admitted to the isolation center, the person would be subjected to a Covid-19 test or the person must be tested after 8 days in the isolation center.
Egypt are playing their World Cup qualifiers on September 2 against Angola and on September 5 against Gabon. Argentina are playing their World Cup qualifiers on September 3 against Venezuela, on September 5 against Brazil, and on September 10 against Bolivia.
While Brazil will play their World Cup qualifiers against Chile on September 3, against Argentina on September 5, and against Peru on September 10.
At the time of publishing this report, the Egyptian football association has confirmed that Liverpool have refused to release Mohamed Salah for the World Cup qualifiers against Angola in Egypt due to the Covid-19 regulations in the UK.
However, Liverpool might release the forward for Egypt’s second qualifiers game which will take place in Gabon since Gabon is not on the UK red list.
Egyptian FA said in a statement that: “The Egyptian Football Association had received a letter from Liverpool FC apologizing for the inability of its player, Mohamed Salah, to join the national team in its next camp, which includes Angola in Cairo and Gabon in Franceville during the first and second rounds of the African continent’s qualifiers for the World Cup.
“The English club’s letter referred to the precautionary measures applied in England to confront the outbreak of the coronavirus in the world, which puts returnees from some countries in compulsory health isolation for 10 days upon their return to England.
“In the letter, the English club also expressed its hope that the Egyptian federation would understand that it was forced to do so, in the face of the player being subjected to quarantine for this period and being affected by this physically.
“It is reported that Liverpool FC took the same position with a number of its foreign players.”
Meanwhile, at the time of publishing this report, PSG have not confirmed whether or not they will allow Lionel Messi and Neymar to travel for the World Cup qualifiers.
Recall that Messi joined PSG for free earlier in August. Since then, he has not made an appearance for the French club. He is however expected to make his debut on August 29 against Reims.
On the other hand, Neymar has only played once for PSG this season. He missed PSG’s 4-2 win over Brest last weekend. He is however expected to be in action this coming weekend.
Aside from Egypt, Argentina, and Brazil, other countries in UK coronavirus red list include Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Turkey, and Uruguay.
This means that Premier League players like Aston Villa and Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, Liverpool and Brazil goalkeeper, Alisson Becker, Fabinho, and Roberto Firmino might not be available for their countries in the coming World Cup qualifiers.
