Tottenham defender Cristian Romero today joined up with the Argentina squad despite being banned for both of this month’s World Cup qualifiers.
Romero flew to Argentina last night after playing in Spurs’ win over West Ham, having been named in Lionel Scaloni’s provisional squad on Friday.
The centre-back was one of four Premier League-based players to be hit with a two-game ban by Fifa over their failure to comply with return to football international match protocol ahead of the farcical abandoned qualifier against Brazil last year.
The quartet, which also included Spurs’ Giovani Lo Celso, travelled to Sao Paolo to play last September, allegedly in breach of Brazil’s Covid regulations at the time, which barred arrivals from the UK who were not Brazilian citizens or permanent residents.
Argentina have already qualified for Qatar 2022 but the AFA are hoping Romero’s ban will be reduced to one game on appeal, which would leave him free to face Ecuador in the early hours of Wednesday, March 30 – a few days before Spurs return to action against Newcastle.
If Romero’s suspension is upheld, however, he faces a wasted round trip to South America.
Spurs are understandably frustrated by the situation, particularly given the previous difficulties involving their South American players this season.
Romero was sidelined for nearly three months after suffering a hamstring injury on Argentina duty in November, while after the September break Romero, Davinson Sanchez and Giovani Lo Celso missed two Spurs matches while training in Croatia to avoid being forced into quarantine on returning to the UK.
