SELECAO SWEAT ON DEFENCE WOES
Unheralded Ismailey called up after injuries to regular left-backs
TRAINING between mounds of snow without Neymar, Brazil may be forgiven for feeling out of their element as they prepare to face hosts Russia in their penultimate World Cup warmup.
The most expensive football player on the planet is back home, celebrating his sister’s birthday with his famous right foot recovering from surgery in a protective boot.
But things are deadly serious in Moscow, where the Selecao play today at the Luzhniki Stadium in which they will hope to lift a record sixth World Cup trophy on July 15.
Coach Tite will try to make sure his superstars have learned from the unmitigated disaster of their 7-1 drubbing by Germany, whom Brazil play on Tuesday, on home soil back in 2014.
That fateful World Cup semifinal four years ago was played without the injured Neymar or suspended centre-back Thiago Silva.
Now, as then, Brazil are looking vulnerable in defence and missing their 26-year-old hero.
Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar “is a different player. He is one of the top three in the world,” said Tite.
“But a strong team should not depend on specific names.”
Without Neymar, Tite is entrusting the left wing to Juventus’s in-form Douglas Costa.
The 27-year-old is in the prime of his career after spending much of it tucked away in Ukraine playing for Shakhtar Donetsk.
Costa has only found the net three times in 22 appearances in a yellow jersey but this is his time to shine, and he does not seem fazed by the occasion.
Costa will be paired up front with Chelsea’s graceful winger Willian and Gabriel Jesus, who has scored 11 times for Manchester City this season.
If Tite is spending any sleepless nights, it might not be because of Neymar’s absence but due to his defence.
Despite boasting a trio of Neymar’s PSG teammates: Silva, Marquinhos and Dani Alves, Brazil have a weakness at leftback should something happen to Real Madrid’s Marcelo.
His regular replacement Filipe Luis suffered a broken leg playing for Atletico Madrid last week and is expected to be out for two months.
Third choice Alex Sandro of Italian champions Juventus was injured during the first training session in Moscow.
As a result, Tite had to call up the uncapped 28-year-old Ismaily — named after an obscure 1956 British film called “Smiley.”
He is a complete unknown in his homeland and his selection was perhaps more due to his geographic proximity — he plays for Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine — than anything else.