Governing body makes international fixture decision that will affect Spurs 

According to Football.London, the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) have decided to postpone the World Cup qualifier scheduled for later this month, meaning that Tottenham’s South American contingent will stay put during the international break. 

A number of Tottenham players could be called up by their countries for the international break that is scheduled from 22 March to 1 April.

The UK government’s stipulations state that anyone returning from coronavirus ‘red list’ countries, including all of South America and parts of Africa, are required to quarantine for a period of ten days.

FIFA has given clubs permission to prevent their players from leaving for international duty if they have to quarantine for five days or more on their return.

Several top-flight managers, including the likes of Jurgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel and Pep Guardiola have already hinted that they might not release some of their players for the international break.

Jose Mourinho said last week that Tottenham will make a decision when they receive confirmation on where the different matches will be held.

However, it has now been confirmed that the likes of Giovani Lo Celso, Erik Lamela, Davinson Sanchez, Lucas Moura and Carlos Vinicius, who were all eligible to be called up by their countries, will stay in London due to the postponement of South American World Cup qualifiers. 

The statement by CONMEBOL read: “The CONMEBOL Council decided to suspend the double date of the Qualifiers for Qatar 2022 scheduled for March.

“The decision is due to the impossibility of having all the South American players in a timely manner. FIFA will analyze the rescheduling of the date, in coordination with CONMEBOL and the member associations.

“Soon, the different options for holding the matches will be studied.”

Spurs Web Opinion 

Hopefully, the matches scheduled to be held in other ‘red list’ countries like Portugal and parts of Africa, will also be moved or postponed. Common sense should prevail as it would be a needless risk to go ahead with international fixtures at a time when there are several travel restrictions imposed and the players are still part of a bio-secure bubble.

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