Brazil manager Tite has provided an update on Neymar and said that the national team captain could be set to return to the lineup for their World Cup last 16 encounter against South Korea on Monday.
Neymar is recovering from an ankle injury sustained in Brazil’s opening 2-0 win against Serbia on November 24. The issue, initially not thought to be too severe, kept the forward out of Brazil’s last two group matches.
However, on Sunday, Tite said: “Neymar will train today in the afternoon and, if he trains well, he will play.”
Asked if that meant he could start against South Korea at Stadium 974, especially with the knockout format meaning matches can extend into extra-time and penalties, Tite replied: “My preference is always to play my best players from the start.
“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. It’s the coach who has to make that decision and take on that responsibility.”
Brazil, record five-time world champions, have suffered a number of injuries to key players, including full-backs Danilo and Alex Sandro. On Saturday, the day following their surprise 1-0 defeat to Cameroon in the group finale — Brazil had already qualified — left-back Alex Telles and forward Gabriel Jesus were both ruled out for the remainder of the tournament.
Tite was asked whether he had called up an injured Jesus after reports emerged of the Arsenal striker complaining of knee pain for several weeks. “Thank you very much for this question because I can’t repeat things out there that are lies,” Tite responded.
“These are evil lies, from those who want to do bad things to others. Not at any time here in the national team did we pay the price for victory with the health of an athlete. So this liar who is out there…the haters, that’s what they call them, that’s what they call them, right? They keep spreading it around, so they give me the opportunity to talk. Stop spreading fake news and do something else.
“Arsenal has a great medical department. We have a great medical department. We have a personal responsibility. We have personal ethics. It would never happen like this.”
On facing South Korea, who qualified for the last 16 by scoring in the 91st minute of their final group game against Portugal, Tite added: “We are better prepared for what happened [with the injuries], and even for the loss to Cameroon.”
'We can script another miracle'
Meanwhile, South Korea captain Son Heung-min called for his side to “script another miracle” against one of the tournament favourites. South Korea have only once previously gone further than the last 16 in the World Cup, reaching the semi-finals in 2002, when they were joint hosts.
“We’ve always talked about reaching the round of 16 as our objective but we should now try to go beyond that,” said Son, who assisted the winner that sealed his team’s knockout spot. “I hope we can script another miracle.”