Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com
Brazil’s injury-plagued camp was relieved when star striker Neymar returned to training. In Brazil’s opening encounter against Serbia in FIFA World Cup 2022, Neymar injured his ankle and was substituted late. As expected, the injury was serious, putting him out of the remaining group-stage matches. Brazil defeated Switzerland without him but lost to Cameroon in their last group game.
On Saturday, Brazil’s striker Gabriel Jesus got ruled out of the tournament to a knee injury he suffered during the Cameroon match. Misery piled up for the five-time champions when full-back Alex Tellas also suffered the same fate owing to a similar issue. It, however, doesn’t end here for Brazil. Another full-back Alex Sandro is also on the bench, and as per the team doctor, Rodrigo Lasmar, a late call will be taken in Sandro’s case about his participation in the tournament.
Already feeling pressured and somewhat drained while dealing with the increasing injury list, Brazil coach Tete had a few words to say. During the media interaction on Friday, he said, “the physical demand is ever increasing, the time is short, it’s a cumulative effect of games and sometimes you don’t have the ideal recovery time on your hands.”
“I don’t really know what to say other than that, mentally, the Cup is very demanding. It drains you. The intensity of the matches, the preparation – they are components of analysis that we have to delve into deeper, but they are all considerable.”
Given the current condition in the camp, Neymar’s return to training is a positive sign. Although neither the coach nor the Brazilian camp issued any statement relating to Neymar’s latest training video, watching him doing warm-ups ahead of the South Korea match will boost the morale of his fans.
Brazil will face off South Korea in the pre-quarterfinal match on Tuesday, December 6th.
