Brazil focus on Neymar to deliver from worst ever World Cup run
Brazil take on Costa Rica today needing a win to avoid equalling their worst ever World Cup run, but the focus of their concern is once again not on the team but on one individual - Neymar.
The Paris St Germain player loves the limelight but the attention ahead of today’s game in St Petersburg has come for all the wrong reasons.
Neymar was criticised for his performance in Brazil’s 1-1 draw with Switzerland in their opener last weekend. He was hunted down mercilessly by the Swiss, drawing 10 of Brazil’s 19 fouls, as many as some entire teams.
But he was also below par and showed little sign of the form that made him the world’s most expensive footballer when Paris St Germain signed him from Barcelona last August.
Worse, many fans thought he was playing for himself rather than his country.
Neymar limped out of Tuesday’s training session with a sore ankle, but he is expected to be fit for what could be Brazil’s fourth World Cup match without a win, an unwanted streak that would equal their poorest such run ever, recorded in 1974-1978
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