Brazil’s coach, Tite, has insisted that Neymar will play again in this World Cup despite a sprained ankle. 2-0 Group G win over Serbia. The striker was taken off with 11 minutes left in the match and television footage appeared to show him limping and his ankle swollen badly.
He appeared closed to tears as he sat on the bench during the final minutes of the match, before slowly making his way back to the dressing room.
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Neymar was subjected to harsh tactics throughout the night from an aggressive Serbian defence, and was fouled nine times in the match as well as receiving numerous off-the-ball runs.
But Titi, who enjoyed a near-perfect night like Brazil They started their campaign with a convincing victory, and said that Neymar would be assessed in the next 24-48 hours, and expressed confidence that the injury was not serious.
Don’t worry, Neymar will play in world CupHe’ll keep playing, you can be sure of that.”
The Brazilian national team doctor, Rodrigo Lasmar, confirmed that Neymar suffered a “direct trauma” to his right ankle after being treated by Serbian Nikola Milenkovic. “We started immediate treatment on the bench. He continues his physical studies, but now we need to wait 24-48 hours for a better evaluation. He felt this pain throughout the match, but chose to stay on the field to help his team after his injury. It is remarkable that he did this.”
Tite’s relaxed demeanor may have been an attempt to avoid the kind of injury drama that bedeviled Brazil’s 2014 World Cup campaign, when a broken vertebra ended Neymar’s quarter-finals, and a hysterical band grabbed his empty shirt as they sang the trophy. The national anthem before the semi-final match against Germany. Brazil lost the match, 7-1.
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