Neymar injury latest: Brazil in World Cup panic mode amid doubts over star's form and fitness

Injury doubt: Neymar hobbled out of Brazil training on Tuesday
AFP/Getty Images
Tom Collomosse21 June 2018

Brazil arrived in Russia as World Cup favourites but their growing anxiety about Neymar threatens to derail their bid for a sixth crown.

If Argentina are obsessed with Lionel Messi, then Brazil are just as fixated on his former Barcelona team-mate.

Will he be fit for the tournament? Why can’t he find his best form? Has his foot injury flared up again, or is there a new problem, this time with his ankle?

Brazil face Costa Rica in St Petersburg tomorrow lunchtime in search of their first win of the tournament. Unless they win well and Neymar is at the heart of it, the match is likely to set more nerves jangling back home.

Neymar was criticised mercilessly for his preening performance in Brazil’s disappointing 1-1 draw against Switzerland five days ago.

Sporting a bizarre haircut, the Paris St-Germain star was distracted by the close attention of midfielder Valon Behrami, and he made little impact on the game.

After tearing him to shreds, Brazil’s followers were soon overcome with worry when they learned Neymar had limped out of training on Monday. He missed the final three months of PSG’s campaign, placing his participation in Russia in doubt.

With Messi, the question is whether Argentina depend on him too much.

With Neymar, the issue is slightly different.

Since Tite replaced Dunga as head coach, Brazil have developed an attractive, effective style of play that carried them through the South American qualifiers.

In Pictures | World Cup 2018, Day 4 | 17/06/2018

1/76

Amid the concerns about his form and fitness, does Neymar help that style or hinder it?

There were even suggestions that he should have been substituted against Switzerland, with some asking whether Douglas Costa, the Juventus winger, would be more productive.

Neymar tried to reassure supporters in an interview with the Brazilian FA’s television channel yesterday.

“I trained well, I felt really comfortable. The foot is fine,” he said, while doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said the 26-year-old had missed training on Monday only as a precaution.

Yet, doubts remain. Neymar’s foot might be “fine”, but what about his ankle? Although he returned to training yesterday, it was unclear whether Neymar completed the session.

Tite and Neymar were due to give their pre-match press conference later today, but until the starting XI is named, these issues will continue to preoccupy Brazilian fans.

“There are high expectations for the second game,” said Neymar. “We hope to play a much better match than our debut. Tite is telling us about our opponents. We are going to analyse everything and define the best way to beat them.”

Neymar is part of that process, but while the soap opera continues, it is hard to be confident about his nation’s chances in this World Cup.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in