Rescheduled or cancelled? The likely dates for Brazil vs Argentina rematch

World football governing body, FIFA has promised to investigate the events that led to and that transpired during the controversial Brazil Vs Argentina match on Sunday. In the Matchday 6 fixture of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Brazilian health authorities from ANVISA stormed the pitch in a bid to detain 3 Argentine players. The players were alleged to have given false declarations to officials before entering Brazil for their qualifying match.

Emiliano Martinez, Emiliano Buendia, Giovanni Lo Celso and Christian Romero are the players accused of not revealing their full travel history to ANVISA officials. Brazil had placed the United Kingdom on its red list of countries concerning the Covid-19 virus. Thus, travellers who have been to the country in the past 14 days are required to undergo mandatory quarantine before entering Brazil. The quartet of Martinez, Buendia, Lo Celso and Romero are alleged to not have revealed that they've been in England while talking to the authorities. 

As such, FIFA is expected to give its verdict on the match after the completion of its investigations into the incidents. A likely outcome of the investigation would be rescheduling the match to be replayed at a later date. If this is agreed upon, there are few dates that can be picked for such. The date would have to fall on a FIFA-approved international window to make sure clubs release players for the match. 

As it stands there are only 3 available FIFA International windows allowed to CONMEBOL when the match could take place. Between 4th - 13th October is the first possibility and probably the best too because it is the only one left in 2021. So as to finalise the standings in the qualification group as quickly as possible. The next possibility is between 24th January and 1st February while the last is between 21st March and 29th March. With the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup not starting till 21st November, the match can still be played in 2022 before the draws take place in April 2022.