DOHA — Neymar is in line to return from injury for
Brazil’s last-16 World Cup clash with South Korea on Monday but will need to
prove his fitness first, coach Tite said.
The 30-year-old superstar forward suffered an ankle injury
in Brazil’s opening win in Qatar over Serbia and then missed the last two group
matches.
“Regarding Neymar, he’s going to train this afternoon and if
he’s OK, he will play tomorrow,” said Tite on Sunday.
It is not the news Korea’s Portuguese coach Paulo Bento was
hoping for.
“We would be hypocrites if we said we prefer playing against
Neymar,” said Bento.
“That would be a lie, we prefer him not to play but honestly
speaking, I always prefer the best players to play.”
Bento complained about the quick turnaround between the last
group stage match on Friday and Monday’s last 16 clash.
Unlike Brazil who rested most of their first-choice players
having already qualified after two games, Korea had to fight to the last minute
of their 2–1 win over Portugal to make it into the knockouts.
“After the physical tiredness from the previous games there
is also the emotional fatigue after the Portugal game,” said Bento.
“I decided to let the players rest yesterday and we only
trained this morning.”
“Of course, that’s a burden for teams. It’s an additional
burden compared to Brazil ... who changed the line up for their last game: they
did something we couldn’t do in the last game.”
Meanwhile, Tite had harsh criticism for those that accused
him of taking an unnecessary risk with Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus, who was
injured against Cameroon and will miss the rest of the tournament.
Some local media said that Jesus arrived at the World Cup
carrying a knock which Tite knew about when picking him from the start to face
the African side on Friday.
Brazil had already qualified for the knockout rounds and
lost 1–0.
“I don’t like hearing lies, evil lies from people who want
to do bad things to others,” fumed Tite.
“At no time do we play for victory at the risk of a player.
The liars, the haters who keep giving hate should go and do something else and
stop giving fake news.”
“Arsenal have a great medical department, we have a great
medical department.”
“This never happened and I would never let it happen.”اضافة اعلان
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