With the return of striker Neymar, Brazil faces South Korea, starting at 4 pm (Brasília time) this Monday (5) at Estádio 974, in search of a place in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Cup.
The return of the number 10 to the Brazilian national team is great news, after being absent from the victory over Serbia and the defeat against Cameroon due to an injury to his right ankle. Confirmation of the presence of the PSG (France) striker in the team came after the team’s last training session, last Sunday (4).
“About Neymar, he will train this afternoon. Training, he will be in the game”, declared Tite in a press conference before the activity. As the attacker trained well, the return is right.
Another important return confirmed by the coach was Danilo, who can be improvised at left-back, a position for which the players called up are not available (Alex Telles was cut and Alex Sandro continues to recover from injury). In this way, the starting lineup should be: Alisson; Éder Militão, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva and Danilo; Casemiro, Lucas Paquetá and Neymar; Raphinha, Richarlison and Vinícius Junior.
Brazil and South Korea have faced each other seven times in history, with six Brazilian victories and only one South Korean triumph. The last meeting was a 5-1 defeat by Tite’s team in a friendly match played in June of this year. But, even with such a positive prognosis, defender Thiago Silva says he expects a difficult confrontation in the round of 16: “Our confrontation tomorrow is very difficult. We know the quality of Korea, a team that plays forward and likes to have the ball. We have to minimize their momentum to get ranked. We have to work a lot for this. The last game has nothing to do with the Round of 16 of a World Cup.”
[#생생포토] 다시 침착하게 브라질전 준비?
✔2022 FIFA 카타르 월드컵 16강전
??v??브라질 12.06(화) 04:00 (KST)#대한민국 #축구국가대표팀 더 뜨겁게, ??? ????? pic.twitter.com/T5uueFtu3k— theKFA (@theKFA) December 4, 2022
The presence of Neymar is an additional concern for South Korea, as stated in an interview by the team’s coach, the Portuguese Paulo Bento: “We would be hypocrites if we said that it would be better to face Brazil with Neymar. However, to be fair and true, I prefer the best players to be present.” But the coach said that regardless of the formation of Brazil, he will try to do the best: “We will play the best game possible and we will outline the best strategy to compete with a great team”.
The South Korean team arrives excited for the dispute after ranking second in a group that had more traditional teams like Portugal and Uruguay. In addition, striker Son Heung-Min’s team gained an extra dose of motivation after beating Cristiano Ronaldo’s team 2-1 in the last round of the group stage.
japan and croatia
Starting at 12:00 this Monday, Japan and Croatia will meet at Al Janoub Stadium, in the city of Al Wakrah, to find out who will face the winner of Brazil and South Korea.
The final preparations. ??#FIFAWorldCup #Qatar2022 #Family #vatreni?? pic.twitter.com/003eAwRsDy
— HNS (@HNS_CFF) December 4, 2022
The Europeans, current world runners-up, are considered the big favourites. However, the Japanese arrive very excited after beating in the first phase two teams that have already won the World Cup title, Spain and Germany.
