The A Team will likely be again on television tube on Monday evening. Brazil’s defeat of their ultimate team recreation lower deep, with the complaint for fielding a closely weakened crew rapidly fierce again house. But the trainer, Tite, insists he did the correct factor and, by no means thoughts Lusail, it’s the 974 Stadium that are supposed to give you the evidence. He has additionally became at the “lies” accusing him of knowingly risking Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus, and published that Neymar may get started. If judgment used to be to be reserved then, now it is going to be actual because the variety meet South Korea within the remaining 16.
Despite dominating towards Cameroon and racking up 21 photographs, Brazil conceded a 92nd-minute Vincent Aboubakar function to lose 1–0, their first defeat by way of an African facet on the World Cup. They did so with a beginning XI that incorporated most effective two regulars and Alex Telles and Jesus had been pressured off, becoming a member of Danilo, Alex Sandro and Neymar at the damage record. Of the general 3, even though, most effective Sandro will indisputably leave out the Korea recreation. Brazil, already thru, additionally got here rapidly with reference to dropping first position within the team.
Quick Guide
Qatar: past the soccer
display
This is a World Cup like no different. For the remaining 12 years the Guardian has been reporting at the problems surrounding Qatar 2022, from corruption and human rights abuses to the remedy of migrant staff and discriminatory rules. The easiest of our journalism is accrued on our devoted Qatar: Beyond the Football house web page for individuals who wish to pass deeper into the problems past the pitch.
Guardian reporting is going some distance past what occurs at the pitch. Support our investigative journalism these days.
The captain, Thiago Silva, insisted “we took risks, yes, but we think it is worth it”. The trainer in the meantime defined why or even known as on his assistant Cesar Sampaio to give you the statistical proof. In quick, he had rested his gamers. Not one Brazil participant has began all 3 video games and it’s conceivable that of the beginning XI towards Cameroon most effective Éder Militão and Fred will line up towards South Korea.
One guy who won’t achieve this is Jesus, who sustained a knee damage this is anticipated to stay him out for roughly a month. Tite reacted angrily to reviews that he knew there used to be a chance in fielding Jesus. “I don’t like hearing lies, said with bad intent,” he mentioned.
“We never put a player at risk. The liars, the haters, can go and do something else and stop giving fake news. Arsenal have a great medical department, we have a great medical department and we are responsible and ethical. I didn’t want this to happen and we’re very sorry for him. We have spoken to him. I’m not saying we can take the pain away but we have tried to make him feel better, to give him strength and to have him participate as much as possible.”
On one level, the injury to Jesus served to justify Tite’s decision to protect his starters, with Richarlison, Vinícius Júnior and Raphinha starting on the bench against Cameroon and only Raphinha coming on. The decision was not widely welcomed, though. “I’m not here to start a fight,” Tite said. “I accept criticism for fielding a team that was different. That’s part of life, part of my job. There are different ideas? Ofcourse! But this World Cup has elements that make it different: heat, intensity, short recovery time.”
There were only two full days between Brazil’s last group match and this knockout tie and, using Poland as the example, Tite explained that their fitness analysts had seen a 40% drop in intensity in the third game, and that eight players had physical problems. “It’s very tough for the human body,” he said. That rest allowed his players to come into this tie with almost a week’s break between starting games, with the added prospect of getting Neymar and Danilo back. If declared fully fit, Neymar will start.
“We will never take a risk with his health: Neymar depends on the medical department saying OK,” Tite said. “I want to make that very, very clear. If he practices and he’s OK he will play.”
It may not have been his intention, but the best defense of Tite’s approach probably came from the South Korea coach, Paulo Bento, who would have welcomed the chance to do something similar. His tone was that of a curiously pessimistic man.
“I am a realist,” he mentioned. “I’ve told the players that this is a tough objective but we have to try. After the physical and emotional fatigue of the Portugal game we decided to let them rest. They’ve only trained once. Seventy-two hours between games is too little; I doubt any team can do that. I watched 2018 and I don’t remember that. The space between matches was always longer. It’s a burden and we obviously have an additional burden compared to Brazil, because they changed their lineup. They did something we couldn’t do.
“It is difficult to play against Brazil, one of the teams most likely to win the World Cup, and our task will be very difficult but we won’t give up. We know we will suffer a bit. We haven’t had the time to practice on [their weaknesses] but we will do it from a theoretical point of view. I told the players that if we played Brazil in many matches, they would be champions but it’s one match and we have a chance.” He said if they “compete and fight till the last whistle … it will be a victory no matter what”.
