\n<\/p>\n
Chelsea now know Mois\u00e9s Caicedo will not miss Ecuador\u2019s World Cup opener after all. Fresh information from South America reveals FIFA has effectively wiped out the midfielder\u2019s suspension.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Ecuador international had been expected to sit out his country\u2019s first match of the tournament. This was following disciplinary trouble during the CONMEBOL qualifiers.<\/p>\n Caicedo was sent off against Argentina after receiving a second yellow card early in the second half. This triggered what was widely understood to be an automatic one-match suspension for Ecuador\u2019s opening World Cup fixture against Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n That meant Ecuador had very little chance of overturning the punishment. Even after examples of FIFA softening sanctions in other cases, their prospects were slim.<\/p>\n Instead, the expectation was that Caicedo would only become available again for matches against Cura\u00e7ao. Additionally, he would be available against Germany later in the group stage.<\/p>\n Now, though, journalist Cesar Luis Merlo<\/strong> has reported a major twist. He confirmed that FIFA introduced an amnesty and Mois\u00e9s Caicedo is not suspended for the World Cup debut.<\/p>\n According to the journalist, Benfica defender Nicol\u00e1s Otamendi and Qatar international Tarek Salman also benefited from the same decision.<\/p>\n That changes Ecuador\u2019s planning significantly and removes what would have been a major absence from the opening fixture.<\/p>\n The news will also be welcomed at Chelsea, particularly given Caicedo\u2019s growing importance at Stamford Bridge. This World Cup is also arriving at an important moment in his career.<\/p>\n We followed the negotiations<\/strong> earlier this year as Chelsea moved quickly to secure the Ecuador international\u2019s long-term future.<\/p>\n Then in mid-April, Caicedo signed a new seven-year contract running until 2033, underlining both his importance to the project and the club\u2019s desire to protect themselves from growing outside interest.<\/p>\n That deal also reflected his rise inside the squad hierarchy after becoming one of Chelsea\u2019s standout performers this season. In addition, a\u00a0strong World Cup would only strengthen Caicedo\u2019s reputation further.<\/p>\n For that reason alone, Chelsea will be relieved that he is now expected to feature from the very start of the tournament.<\/p>\n \n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chelsea now know Mois\u00e9s Caicedo will not miss Ecuador\u2019s World Cup opener after all. Fresh…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Huge update from South America<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Chelsea receive timely boost<\/strong><\/h2>\n