The local press: “Peru will take our place”. But Article 6 of the Preliminary Regulations gives some hope: Fifa’s absolute discretion in the event of a team being excluded
SASSARI. The news of a possible resurgence of Italy at the Qatar 2022 World Cup continues to be discussed due to a possible exclusion of Ecuador. The Italian hopes are all based on an indisputable fact, Article 6 of the preliminary regulation of the world championship of the International Football Association: “” If any association withdraws or is excluded from the competition, FIFA will decide on the matter at its sole discretion and will undertake whatever action is deemed necessary. “Put simply, if the federation based in Zurich excludes a team from the World Cup then it has absolute discretion on how to proceed.
The bomb exploded after Chile, eliminated from the world championship, appealed for the presence of the player Castillo in the national team of “cafeteros” despite being born in Colombia and having never made the naturalization process. Another case was added to this case, that of the goalkeeper Dominguez, also in the same situation. The Chilean federation appealed but the local newspapers were quick to point out that an exclusion of Ecuador would not have led to the automatic inclusion of Chile in its place, but rather that that world “ticket” would have passed to Italy because the best in the Fifa ranking among the eliminated formations.
From Ecuador just between yesterday and today, the mocking insinuation by journalists arrived. For local media such as futbolecuador.com, in fact, Chile’s appeal would lead to nothing positive for the Andean country. Nor can Italy have the illusion of accessing the world championship through this window. According to the Ecuadorian press, in fact, the exclusion of the “cafeteros” would lead to the rightful entry of Peru (mentioned among other things in the FIFA press release announcing the opening of the investigation into the Castillo case). The Peruvians should have played as fifth in the South American group, the play-off for the last available place for Qatar, against Australia. At this point they would be qualified by right and would leave the task of beating the “kangaroos” to Colombia, in turn promoted to fifth place in the group.
This is the reading made by the Ecuadorians while in Chile, and now also in Italy, increases the conviction that it will be Mancini’s national team that will detach the ticket due to the Ecuadorian mess. In terms of curiosity, it should be remembered that the rounds of the World Cup have been drawn and whoever replaces Ecuador, whose fate seems to have been sealed, would end up in Group A with Qatar, Senegal and Holland … playing the first game on 21 November right against the hosts … A group that is anything but complicated. (en.g.)