In the worst case scenario, one of the best national teams in the world could be left out of the World Cup final due to Uefa’s invertebrate activities, writes Hinni Hirvonen, a journalist at Sports.
The Dutch national football team had to face Belarus in the World Cup qualifiers on Tuesday. That is, a country that has supported the President of Russia Vladimir Putin offensive operation in Ukraine. Among other things, Belarus has allowed Russian soldiers to invade Ukraine through the country.
For a month, Russia has been bombing Ukrainian civilians, suspected of shocking war crimes and treating its own wounded soldiers on the Belarusian side. Autonomous dominance of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has openly supported Putin and recently appointed Bushan massacre as a British special operation (moving to another service).
Unlike, for example, the International Hockey Federation IIHF, the European Football Association (UEFA) has not excluded Belarus from international activities. In early March, Uefa announced that the Belarusian national teams and clubs will play international home match in a neutral arena (you move to another service) and without an audience.
Uefa announced that it would announce new decisions, if necessary. In Ukraine, hundreds of civilians have since been killed, but Uefa has not considered it necessary to turn his head.
The Dutch mind has not changed. The country’s football association announced in late March that the World Cup qualifier against Belarus had been canceled and that the team would play a friendly against South Africa instead.
Now the team is in danger of paying an expensive price for the only real decision. Iceland, which was not in pain to play against Belarus on the neutral ground in Belgrade on Thursday, defeated the Czech Republic 1-0 on Tuesday and rose to the top of Group C.
Uefa has still not told what kind of sanctions are promised to the Netherlands for not playing in the World Cup qualifiers.
– We did not have a say in this matter, but I am happy that the Dutch federation took on this role. Of course, the heart of a football player hurts, but in Ukraine, people suffer more. However, it is clear that we do not want to be left out of the World Cup, defender Merel van Dongen comments To the Dutch broadcaster in early April (switching to another service).
The teams’ match in Minsk in October ended in a 2-0 victory for the Netherlands. The match scheduled for Tuesday would most likely have ended in the victory of the reigning European champion, but the Netherlands will not win the match they missed.
Now the Dutch federation and Uefa are currently negotiating a mutually satisfactory solution.
Sure, the runners-up will continue to hunt for a race spot in the World Cup qualifiers in October, but in the worst case, the team currently ranked fifth best in the world could be left out of the World Cup final due to Uefa’s invertebrate activity.
That would be a disgrace to the species.