Brazil tile: tests disprove Neymar. World Cup at great risk
The countdown to Brazil’s World Cup suddenly turns red hot due to the injury that has struck national team star Neymar Jr. What initially seemed like a temporary annoyance now threatens to seriously jeopardize the opening phase of the most important tournament of the year for the greenoro team. Anxiety among fans and local media skyrocketed soon after the Seleção’s gathering, turning the festive mood that usually accompanies the start of the training camp into deep concern about the striker’s fate.
The hopes of the technical staff clashed with the harsh verdict of the instrumental examinations carried out soon after the star player’s arrival at the team’s headquarters. Rodrigo Lasmar, doctor for the Brazilian Football Federation, explained that the player showed up at the training camp yesterday and underwent an MRI that revealed a second-degree injury to his calf, specifying that it is not just edema and predicting that he will be back available in two to three weeks. This diagnosis belies the reassurances given earlier by Santos and the player himself, according to which the muscle problem was a simple edema that could be cleared in a very few days.
The seriousness of the situation will force the number ten to completely change his schedule ahead of the rainbow appointment. The player will definitely have to skip the upcoming preparation friendlies against Panama and Egypt, but the real cause for apprehension concerns the group stage of the tournament. In fact, the striker is at serious risk for Brazil’s official World Cup debut, set for June 13 against Morocco, as the estimated recovery time would bring him close to the match without having played minutes in his legs and with an inevitably precarious physical condition.
The entire nation is now reliving the ghosts of the past, when other physical stoppages of its star had compromised the team’s path in major competitions. The federation’s medical staff will immediately start a program of intensive physiotherapy and emergency therapies in a desperate attempt to reduce the recovery time and avoid a resounding exclusion from the opening game. Meanwhile, head coach Carlo Ancelotti is forced to study alternative tactical solutions to redesign the offensive department should his star man fail to make it.
