Trump's election helping his Criminal Cases

 

Tuesday night's Conmebol World Cup qualifying match between Brazil and Argentina at Maracana Stadium was postponed for over thirty minutes due to altercations between Rio de Janeiro police and spectators.

Nicolás Otamendi's goal in the second half gave Argentina the lead and ended Brazil's hopes of qualifying for the World Cup at home with a 1-0 victory. Into the match, Brazil had a 51-13-0 record in 64 such games.

During the playing of the national anthems, there was fighting between locals and Argentinean fans, which prompted the Brazilian police to assault the visiting contingent with batons. In response, spectators threw seats at the officers and tore them apart.

As the fighting got closer, fans in the area were frightened and fled onto the field. At least one fan who was hurt was taken from the stadium on a stretcher. 

Before Lionel Messi led the spectators back to the dressing room, Argentina teammates implored them to remain calm. Emiliano Martínez, the goalie for Argentina, hurried to a rail in front of his team's supporters and begged the authorities to put an end to the fighting.

Argentina informed their rivals in Brazil that they would not take the field again until everything had calmed down. Twenty-two minutes later, they were back in the changing room, warming up for an additional three minutes before the game began.

Argentina supporters rejoiced as the game got underway, flanked by dozens of policemen, and faced even greater protection on the field. Around the portion with seating for approximately 3,000 spectators, police gathered.

The match's 69,000 seats were all sold out. Before the fight broke out, Messi was booed and cheered by Brazil supporters, who later chanted against him when he returned to the field.

While they awaited the return of the Argentina team, the players from Brazil stayed on the field to warm up.

Numerous Brazilian supporters warmed up to the Argentine star prior to the match, with several kids donning Messi's former Barcelona and Inter Miami jerseys.

South American World Cup qualifying is led by Argentina, who have 12 points from five games. Brazil is currently ranked fifth. Ten teams competed in a round-robin format, with both teams losing their prior matches.

There hasn't been enough backing for attempts to temporarily prohibit Premier League teams from loaning players from affiliated clubs. 

The Premier League declined to confirm the precise statistics, but according to ESPN, the vote to outlaw such loans was 13-7 in favor, just short of the necessary 14 votes to approve. 

This implies that in January, Newcastle United will have the freedom to sign players from teams that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia also owns.

After Newcastle was taken over by Saudi Arabia in October 2021, PIF currently owns four of the top teams in the nation: Al Nassr, Al Ittihad, Al Ahli, and Al Hilal.

Eddie Howe's team is rumored to be interested in signing Rúben Neves from Al-Hilal, following Sandro Tonali's ten-month ban for violating gambling regulations.

Eleven Premier League teams, including Manchester City, Arsenal, Aston Villa, and Crystal Palace, have such affiliations. It is unknown which, if any, of these teams voted against the plan.

Many teams use this internal network to loan out young players, and part of the reason the vote didn't pass was probably the concern that this practice might be impacted. 

Inter Miami has refuted reports that it consented to play Al Nassr in the Riyadh Season Cup friendly event in February 2024. This match may have included Lionel Messi and fierce rival Cristiano Ronaldo in their final meeting.

The Kingdom Arena's "The Last Dance" event was advertised on social media by Saudi Arabian event organizers in Riyadh with no exact dates yet set. 

Miami, however, declared later on Tuesday that no deal had been struck.

An announcement was made earlier today confirming Inter Miami CF's participation in the Riyadh Season Cup. According to a statement from the Inter Miami CF Communications Department, this is untrue. Statements from Jorge Mas, the team owner, were included in the release. Regarding the preseason tour, Mas has remained silent both officially and personally.

Inter Miami CF has always aimed to be a worldwide brand. In order to decide on our preseason schedule for 2024, we have been having discussions. In the upcoming weeks, Inter Miami CF will reveal details for their inaugural foreign tour, which we are excited to showcase our players on.

Neymar's Al Hilal was supposed to win the three-team competition, but the Brazil international was not expected to play after injuring his ACL last month.

Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority, stated, "We expect this tournament to generate excitement and global interest that expands upon one of our main aspirations for Riyadh Season -- to create international events that visitors to Riyadh and fans around the world can all enjoy."

Saudi Arabia has signed some of the biggest players in the game as part of a major attempt to become a major force in world football. However, when Messi departed Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the previous season, the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner was unable to entice him to the oil-rich nation opting to move to MLS instead. 

The two La Liga rivals' most recent matchup took place at this competition in Riyadh on January 19, 2023.

Messi competed in the Riyadh Season Cup with PSG last season and faced Ronaldo following the latter's unexpected transfer to Al Nassr. PSG prevailed 5–4.

The French team punished and suspended Messi in May for traveling to Saudi Arabia without permission.

Messi, who captained Argentina to victory in the World Cup the previous year, has already taken home his first trophy with Miami, which David Beckham co-owns, the Leagues Cup in August.

During their peak seasons at Barcelona and Real Madrid, respectively, Messi and Ronaldo—two of the greatest players of all time—competed against one another for the biggest football prizes.

Despite having moved on from European football, neither has appeared to be losing hope of leaving a lasting legacy.

Ronaldo has guided Portugal to the European Championship next year, while Messi will be looking to keep the Copa América for Argentina there.

In response to claims of sportswashing, Sadio Mané has also joined Al Nassr as part of Saudi Arabia's effort to entice other high-profile figures.

Al Hilal should still start Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Aleksandar Mitrovic in the lineup even though Neymar is still recuperating from surgery.

The first week of February is when Kingdom Arena will host the Riyadh Season Cup. There will be a round-robin tournament between the three participating teams; the schedule has not been disclosed.

Chris Henderson, the sports director of Inter Miami, stated on Monday that no details regarding the team's preseason schedule had been decided upon or were prepared for release.

It is anticipated that the MLS season will start in late February. Training will restart in the second week of January. Henderson estimated that the club will require four to six preseason games, divided between domestic and international venues.