BEVERLY HILLS, April 12, (THEWILL) – COVID-19 has led to some often bizarre events like what occurred on Sunday in the Colombian football top-flight, the Categoria Primera A.
In the match between 17th-placed Rionegro Aguilas and 13th Boyacá Chicó FC, Aguilas were forced to play with only seven of the standard 11 players that make up a full match squad. In fact to get up to seven, they had to include a reserve goalkeeper as centre back.
This circumstance befell them because of an unchecked spread of COVID-19 and a host of injuries that ravaged their squad and depleted the number of players available to feature.
A frighteningly high number of 16 players tested positive for the virus in the build-up to the match while as many as seven were sidelined through injury. Added to this unfortunate hand they were dealt was the fact that not even their reserve side was fit enough to adequately represent the team in a Categoria Primera match.
Desperately shorthanded, Aguilas appealed to Liga Dimayor officials to have the game postponed stating their peculiar circumstances. The only response they got was to carry on with the fixture.
Fernando Jaramillo, the President of the Primera League was on record to have said: “I know this is a difficult time, but if there are seven players available, you have to show up with those seven players. It is clear that whoever does not show up will lose the points. I understand what’s going on, but you have to show up with all seven players.”
Desiring not to “lose the points” and to avoid any sanctions that may follow, as they sit in the precarious drop zone of relegation, Aguilas decided to host Boyaca Chico with the seven players available and lined up in a revolutionary 3-2-1 formation with backup goalkeeper Juan Valencia brought into the centre-back position.
Valencia lined up in his goalkeeper shirt bearing his name and number, only to be sent back to the dressing room to change into an infield player jersey. And, that was how they made the fixture work.
They gave a good account of themselves, frustrating their visitors into making two substitutions after only 13 minutes played. But heavily outnumbered in every way, playing seven against 11, it was not long before tired legs could not keep up and after a goalless first half, Chico opened the scoring in the 57th minute. Two other goals followed after in the 68th and 77th minutes.
When Aguilas midfielder Giovanny Martinez was forced off with an injury two minutes after, the referee had no choice but to end the game as Aguilas no longer had the minimum number of players required for play to continue.
An illustration of how disastrously one-sided it was, Aguilas were only able to register two shots and had only 12% of possession. They finished the day with a message on Twitter that demonstrated how they perceived the entire fiasco: “We lost the match, but we are going to win the battle against COVID-19. We are so proud of you guys.”
This sense of positivity must not overlook the necessity for world football governing body, FIFA, to find means to have clubs such as Aguilas reach out to them, if their local football associations and management try to force them into a game that makes mockery of the entire purpose of competitive football through no fault of theirs.
There is nothing fair in playing seven against 11 with the threat of punitive measures if they fail to field such a debilitated side and the knowledge that it could be detrimental because they are in the relegation battle. There ought to be laws and a legal framework that makes this unethical and illegal.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
