Brazil’s players pose for a photo with supporters ahead of a training session yesterday.
Doha: Brazil coach Tite was hopeful talisman Neymar would return to his squad to face South Korea in their World Cup last 16 clash at the Stadium 974 tonight.
Tite told a pre-match press conference the decision on PSG striker’s availability would be determined by the medical staff after a training session, which was scheduled last evening.
“Neymar will train today and if he trains well he will play,” Tite told reporters yesterday.
The 30-year-old missed games against Switzerland and Cameroon after suffering from an ankle injury in Selecao’s 2-0 win against Serbia in their opening match.
Replying to a query whether Neymar can come as a substitute against South Korea, Tite said: “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. My preference is always to play my best players from the start.”
With Danilo set to play after recovering from an ankle injury, Neymar’s return would be a boost for the pre-tournament favourites, who saw Alex Telles and forward Gabriel Jesus being ruled out of for the rest of the tournament after suffering from knee injuries against Cameroon on Friday.
Meanwhile, Tite confirmed Alex Sandro, who suffered a hip injury against Switzerland will not be available.
“He still can’t play. Still recovering,” said the coach.
Brazil, who sealed their last 16 stage berth after wins over Serbia and Switzerland, made nine changes in their shock 1-0 defeat to Cameroon in their final group match.
The five-time winners face South Korea, who made a remarkable fightback to beat Portugal 2-1 to advance to the knockout stage after a stoppage time winner from Hwang Hee-chan on Friday.
Tite’s men defeated South Korea 5-1 in a friendly in Seoul in June but Thiago Silva said the Taeguk Warriors cannot be taken lightly.
“We cannot think about the result of our last friendly. South Korea have advanced from a difficult group and we have to respect them in order to win the match,” he said.
Silva also praised South Korean captain Son Heung-min, who plays for Tottenham Hotspur.
“Son is in London, I know him well and he has enormous quality. South Korea are very good in counterattacks,” he said.
We should try to go beyond last 16 stage, says Son
South Korea won their first last 16 stage game in 2002 when they edged Italy 2-1. They lost to Uruguay with the same score-line in 2010 in their last knockout clash at World Cup.
The Asian side have never defeated South American opposition at the World Cup and Son is hoping for another upset from his side after a stunning win over Portugal.
“We’ve always talked about reaching the Round of 16 as our objective but we should now try to go beyond that,” he said.
“I hope we can script another miracle,” Son, who has been playing in a mask following surgery for a fracture around his left eye, said.
Brazil and South Korea have met seven times before but today’s game will mark the first time the two teams face off in the global tournament.
South Korea head coach Paulo Bento complained against fixture congestion as his team confronts the mighty Brazilians three days after a grueling match against Portugal.
“I’ve been watching what happened in 2018 and I don’t remember there being games with 72 hours difference between them. There were four or five days, but not 72 hours,” he said.
“It is already difficult to compete against a great team like Brazil, for me the strongest candidate to be world champion, but with these constraints our task will be more difficult. However, we will try and we will not give up,” said Bento.
“Brazil has great possibilities, we less so, but this is a knockout game. We have nothing to lose, only to gain. We want to leave the image of a team that wants to play and compete until the end,” he said.
When: Today at 10:00pm
Where: Stadium 974 (Capacity: 44,089)
Key stats:
- Brazil go into the knockout stage after group-stage wins over Serbia and Switzerland but they lost 1-0 to Cameroon on Friday when the South Americans were already qualified for the next round and rested most of their regular starters.
- South Korea staged a dramatic come-back 2-1 win over Portugal on Friday, with an added-time goal by Hwang Hee-chan, to make it into the last 16. They had won only one of their previous 11 World Cup matches.
- Brazil forward Neymar remains a doubt for today's match as he tries to recover from an ankle injury.
- Brazil, unbeaten in qualifying for Qatar, have won the World Cup a record five times and are favourites to do it again at the tournament in 2022.
- Brazil have played in every World Cup since 1930 but have not reached the final since they last won the title in 2002.
- South Korea are the only Asian country to have reached the semi-finals of the World Cup, when they were co-hosts in 2002. On the other occasion they made it out of the group stage, they lost in the Round of 16 to Uruguay 2-1 in 2010.
Previous meetings:
The two sides have met seven times previously, but never at a World Cup, with Brazil winning on six occasions and South Korea once, in a friendly in 1999. In a friendly in June this year played in Seoul, Brazil won 5-1.
