Brazil manager, Carlo Ancelotti, has moved to calm concerns over Neymar’s fitness, confirming the forward will not be dropped from his 26-man World Cup squad despite a recent grade 2 calf injury.
Ancelotti said Neymar is expected to recover in time for Brazil’s opening World Cup fixture against Morocco, but added that the team could afford to be patient if he needs more time, potentially targeting the second group match against Haiti instead.
“To be clear, Neymar is going to be with us. We think he can recover for the first match (against Morocco) and, if not, for the second (against Haiti).”
“No doubt that these 26 players are going to play in the World Cup.”
The Brazil coach also acknowledged that his squad lacks the iconic individual star power of previous generations, but stressed the importance of collective responsibility as they head into the tournament.
“The more experienced player has to have more responsibility, the younger player has to have less pressure. We all have a lot of responsibility and pressure,” Ancelotti told reporters during a press conference.
“And what should we do? Share it. It can’t be individual; we have to share the pressure so that it decreases a little.”
“Sometimes, we talk a lot about how Brazil doesn’t have a star. It might be true, we don’t have Pele, Romario and Ronaldo, but we can have a shared responsibility.”
He added that Brazil’s preparation has been heavily focused on defensive organisation, while still encouraging attacking freedom for his forwards.
“We’ve worked a lot on defense. We’re going to work a lot on that. I don’t want to take away the creativity of the attacking players.
“They have a lot of quality, I don’t want to create confusion. Defensively, it’s a daily piece of information until the last game of the World Cup. Our work is focused on that. The defenders, full-backs, midfielders, they all have a very important role.”
