Following their suspended match against Brazil in São Paulo, Argentina wants to turn the page and focus on their final FIFA World Cup qualifying fixture in this international window against Bolivia.
Although there’s still one more match left, Argentine manager Lionel Scaloni is already thinking about next month’s FIFA window and whether Premier League clubs will comply and allow players to report to their national teams.
Scaloni discussed at his press conference, where AS relayed his comments on what another window with Argentine players from England would be like for his squad.
“If no measure is taken (regarding the transfer of players), I see the rest of the Qualifiers complicated. There is time to make decisions, we must find a solution. At no time did we leave the field on initiative ours, but when the CONMEBOL Delegate told us,” Scaloni said.
“We knew the predisposition of the players, they did the impossible to be there. But a decision had to be made. I saw them worried and overwhelmed because their clubs wanted them to return as quickly as possible. No, it has to happen again. The only team that managed to have all the players was us. FIFA urged the leagues to give them up. We were totally in order.”
Brazil recently called for FIFA to sanction Premier League clubs that failed to hand over their players for these World Cup Qualifying fixtures sets.
Nonetheless, with another triple date coming next month, Scaloni understands that maintaining the quality of the squad without the Argentine players from England could be tricky. Emiliano Martinez has run away with the starting goalkeeper job, and Critisian Romero is an anchor on the backline.