LONDON, Aug 30 — Argentina said on Sunday that Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez and Emiliano Buendia were available for all three of their September World Cup qualifiers, despite the Premier League club saying the players would only take part in the first two.
Goalkeeper Martinez and winger Buendia have been called up for Argentina’s triple header against Venezuela (Sept. 2), Brazil (Sept. 5) and Bolivia (Sept. 9) in their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign.
The Premier League had said its clubs would not release players called up for international duty if they are playing matches in a country on the UK’s red list but both players flew out to join their team mates in Buenos Aires after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Brentford.
“Both players have agreed to make themselves available for Argentina’s vital first two World Cup qualifying matches against Venezuela and Brazil but will not take part in the third international match against Bolivia,” Aston Villa said on the club’s website.
“These arrangements mean that Martinez and Buendia will only miss our Premier League match with Chelsea before being available for the visit of Everton to Villa Park on 18th September in order to comply with the UK’s Covid quarantine regulations.”
However, a spokesperson for the Argentine Football Association said both players would be available for all three games and cited an earlier Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling against La Liga on a similar issue.
“Our players are scheduled for three knockout dates and that’s it,” said the spokesperson.
Football’s world governing body Fifa said it expected players to be allowed to play for their countries.
“We now expect the release of players for the upcoming Fifa World Cup qualifiers in South America to occur in accordance with the recent Fifa decision, the legality and legitimacy of which has today been recognised in today’s CAS ruling,” it said in a statement.
Two-times world champions Argentina are in second place in the 10-team South American qualifying group after six matches, with the top four qualifying automatically for Qatar 2022. — Reuters
