Neymar is face of Brazil’s World Cup hopes

Rio de Janeiro, May 15: Striker Neymar, who hasn’t played since injury in February, was named on Monday as the star of a Brazilian team that coach Tite said has a good chance of winning the World Cup in Russia.

“Brazil is one of the favourites given the football it has shown, given its consistency,” Tite said at the team announcement in Rio de Janeiro.

He said the national team, seeking a record sixth World Cup, stands out for being “aggressive, scoring goals.”

“That’s not being arrogant, it’s just telling the truth,” Tite said.

Neymar’s return to form will be a key factor. He has been out since requiring surgery for a broken bone in his foot while playing for Paris Saint- Germain, and is only now easing back into training.

Team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said he was hopeful, with the bone’s healing making “excellent progress.”

Neymar should be able to “regain match fitness” when he takes part in friendlies against Croatia on June 3 and Austria on June 10, Lasmar said.

Brazil will need him showing all the skills that made him the world’s most expensive footballer, with a record 222 million euros transfer from Barcelona to PSG last August.

“We will be a good deal stronger with Neymar. He’s one of the three best players in the world, but for him to be at his peak he needs a solid team around him,” Tite said.

Last week, the team suffered the loss of influential right- back Dani Alves to a knee injury.

In Tite’s 23- man squad Alves place has been comfortably covered by the presence of two men of similar abilities in Danilo and Fagner.

INJURED NEUER NAMED

IN GERMANY SQUAD In Dortmund, injured Manuel Neuer was named in Germany’s extended 27man World Cup squad, but there was no place for Brazil 2014 winner Mario Goetze.

Neuer, Germany’s captain and goalkeeper, has not played since September and still has to prove his fitness at a fortnightlong training camp in northern Italy, which starts next week.

The 32- year- old Bayern Munich star is one of four goalkeepers named by head coach Joachim Loew, who will have to cut four names when the final 23man squad is submitted for the World Cup finals, which start on June 14 in Russia.

In Lisbon, Fabio Coentrao and Renato Sanches were missing from Portugal’s 35- strong pre- World Cup squad named by coach Fernando Santos.

The squad, which will be cut to 23 before the June 14 to July 15 tournament in Russia, included Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo and other mainstays of the team that won Euro 2016, such as Pepe, William Carvalho, Joao Moutinho, Nani and Ricardo Quaresma.

CAHILL DEFENDED AS HIBS STRIKER AXED Australian football chiefs were forced to deny on Tuesday that veteran Tim Cahill was in the country’s World Cup squad for commercial reasons after inform Hibernian striker Jamie Maclaren was axed.

The 38- year- old is the Socceroos’ most prolific scorer with 50 goals, hitting the net at three previous World Cups. — AFP