After the chaos in the Brazil–Argentina World Cup qualifier on Sunday, the four Argentine footballers at the center of the controversy are under investigation for allegedly providing false information upon arrival in Sao Paulo.

The Brazil-Argentina qualifier was interrupted and then suspended after just seven minutes of play as agents of Brazil’s health agency, Anvisa, came onto the pitch to take England-based players Emiliano Martinez, Emiliano Buendia, Giovanni Lo Celso, and Cristian Romero to the airport for breaching coronavirus protocols.

Anvisa said Argentina soccer officials were told on Saturday that the four players will not be allowed to play due to their arrival from the United Kingdom. According to Brazil’s COVID protocol, anyone arriving from the UK has to quarantine for 14 days after their arrival. The players did not inform authorities as required.

Brazil federal police gave the four players a notification to leave the country on Sunday night, the Associated Press reported. The four also had to give written statements to authorities before flying to Argentina with the rest of the squad. The match was abandoned without a score.

Argentina football body confirmed on Monday that Martinez and Buendia were authorized to return to England so they could rejoin their club Aston Villa. The status of Tottenham‘s Lo Celso and Romero is not yet clear.

Anvisa director Alex Campos said Argentina “repeatedly ignored the agency’s recommendations,” the Associated Press reported.

“They were first informed Saturday morning about the players entering the country with false information. We could have deported them at once. But we recommended the quarantine. There was another meeting in the afternoon, same message. And then Sunday morning we saw they had attended a training session,” Campos told SporTV.

“We never meant to interrupt the match. We were stopped from acting until the time the match began. Our only goal was to take the players who were challenging Brazilian regulations,” Campos added.

According to AP, the Brazilian Football Confederation sent two documents dated July 5 and September 2 to CONMEBOL, and the football bodies of Argentina and Peru, mentioning new government restrictions issued on June 23 for travelers who were in the United Kingdom two weeks before their arrival.  Brazil is to play Peru on Thursday in another World Cup qualifier.

The documents talk about the possibility of exceptional waivers. These waivers were to be requested to Brazil’s Chief of Staff office, which says it has not received requests for Argentine players.

The AFA said in a statement that it followed all health protocols. The squad arrived in Brazil on Friday morning from Caracas, where the team beat Venezuela 3-1 the night before.

FIFA has also started an investigation. It said it has received official match reports and has passed them on to disciplinary bodies. No date for a decision has been offered, nor a date for a rematch. FIFA added it “regrets the scenes preceding the suspension of the match.”

(With AP inputs)