Brazil brace for Russia
moscow — 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 on Friday 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 semi-final 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 phased by the occasion.
“Replacing Neymar is an enormous challenge, but we have a lot of class acts on the team who have big potential,” said Costa.
“Neymar’s absence gives the other players a chance to show themselves, to show their best side.” —