Agencies
Doha
Brazil forward Neymar is set to play for the five-times champions in their World Cup last-16 match against South Korea after recovering from an ankle injury, coach Tite said.
Neymar suffered the injury in Brazil’s opening 2-0 win over Serbia, which ruled him out of their 1-0 win over Switzerland and the shock defeat by Cameroon, one of a series of injury problems within the squad.
“Neymar will train today in the afternoon and if he trains well he will play,” Tite told a news conference.
“He has a specific training so I don’t anticipate any situation,” Tite said.
Neymar has suffered many issues with his right foot and underwent surgery four years ago for a fractured metatarsal.
The news of his return to the starting lineup came after Thiago Silva was asked during a news conference if Neymar would play and Tite took hold of the microphone and said “yes”.
It will be warmly welcomed in a squad beset by fitness woes with Danilo also hurting his ankle against Serbia and Alex Sandro suffering a hip injury against the Swiss.
Alex Telles and forward Gabriel Jesus, who sustained a knee injury against Cameroon, were ruled out for the rest of the tournament on Saturday.
Tite said Danilo was also fit to return against South Korea on Monday but Sandro was out.
“He can’t play. Still recovering. Danilo and Neymar are back,” he said.
Tite stressed that Neymar’s return was with the full backing of the team’s medical staff and the player’s physical health was the priority.
“If he plays, it’s because he is in full health and ready to start, to play from the beginning and the entire game with no limitations,” Tite said.
“My preference is always to play my best players from the start.”
Tite said the injuries force an “adaptation to a different reality,” but that the team has other players that can step up.
The coach also sent a message to Brazil great Pelé, who on Saturday was reportedly moved to palliative care. The three-time World Cup winner underwent surgery to remove a tumour from his colon last year, and has been in and out of hospital since.
“I should have started the news conference talking about Pelé. We ask everyone, independently of religion, pray for him,” Tite said.
Pelé doctors said on Saturday evening that “he is still undergoing treatment and the state of health remains stable.”
Only something to win
With his South Korean team being major underdogs against Brazil in the upcoming round of 16 showdown in Qatar, head coach Paulo Bento said Sunday his side has “absolutely nothing to lose.”
“There’s only something to win. The only thing we must remember is to show the image of a team that wants to compete and fight until the very last whistle,” Bento said at a prematch press conference at the Main Media Centre for the FIFA World Cup in Al Rayyan, west of Doha. “And there’s no doubt in my mind that’s what my players will do.”
The match between world No. 28 South Korea and top-ranked Brazil kicks off at 10 p.m. Monday at Stadium 974 in Doha.
South Korea upset world No. 9 Portugal in the final Group H match last Friday to reach the knockouts, but few expect South Korea to pull off another stunner against Brazil, five-time World Cup champions.
But Bento said he and his players will not back down, even though he thinks Brazil have a strong chance of capturing their sixth World Cup trophy this year.
“If we were playing Brazil in a tournament, I’d say Brazil will be the champion. But in one match, it won’t be like a tournament,” Bento said. “We have one chance. We have to respect the outcome.”
After the way his players battled against steep odds to get this far, Bento said he doesn’t need to give them any pep talk to fire them up.
“I believe if they needed a lot for me to motivate to play the round of 16 at a World Cup, they’d be in a bad spot,” he said. “What they proved to us in the first three matches is they are more than motivated. I can get more motivation from them than they from me.”
Bento said having to play with only two days off between the final group match and the first knockout match wasn’t ideal, with Brazil dealing with the same situation.
Brazil have dominated South Korea in recent meetings, including a 5-1 drubbing in a friendly match in June in Seoul. But Bento refused to make much out of that result, saying, “We can’t compare it with an official match.”
“In June, we had a series of limitations. Let’s see tomorrow if we will be able not to have as many limitations as back in June,” he said. “We’ll try to compete in the very best manner possible. We’ll be playing close to our box, because our opponents will force us to do that and we’ll have to accept that. Obviously, we will fight to the utmost of our effort.”
