The Chilean soccer federation (ANFP) has started the process to claim the lost points against Ecuador in the qualifying phase for the Qatar 2022 World Cup due to the possible “irregular alignment” of the Barcelona defender from Guayaquil Bayron Castillo, revealed the manager Communications and Corporate Affairs, Gianfranco Dazzarola.
“We are collecting all the background in official and formal ways. If there is space for a claim, assuming that the version is true, we are going to claim the points,” said the manager.
The possible “improper alignment” came to light and spurred the illusion of the ‘Roja’ on Wednesday after the newspaper Marca de Colombia assured: “After a long trial, it has just been determined that Byron Castillo, quoted several times by Gustavo Alfaro, is Colombian. The Barcelona player was born in Tumaco, Nariño“.
The defender participated in eight matches in the qualifying phase for the World Cup against Bolivia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Uruguay and both against Chile, in which the ‘Roja’ only managed one point by drawing at home and losing away.
Just minutes after the information was released, several television channels began to speculate that Chile could achieve in the offices what it could not achieve in the field, and the news became a trend on social networks, so much so that many users they asked incredulously if it was “a hoax”.
According to the calculations of the media, if the regulations are applied and the points achieved with Castillo in the field are taken away from Ecuador -to give them to their rivals- Chile would add five more, which would allow it to be in fourth place -with a direct place for the World Cup – ahead of Peru, which would be left with the same points but fewer goals.
The calculations of the Chilean press would leave Colombia in sixth place and the Peruvians fifth, since apparently Castillo did not play against both teams. However, some warn of the possibility that Conmebol will also count the matches in which the defender was called up but did not play, which would mean another type of final classification.
Ecuador, who had a brilliant qualifying campaign, is drawn in Group A at the World Cup with hosts Senegal and the Netherlands.