Injuries rock Brazil camp

– Brazilian coach Tite was forced into some late changes to the squad that will face Uruguay and Cameroon in friendlies in England after Barcelona’s Philippe Coutinho and Real Madrid pair Marcelo and Casemiro pulled out through injury.

Tite called up Barcelona midfielder Rafinha Alcantara (above) to replace Casemiro, whose sprained ankle could sideline him for several weeks.

He also added Beijing Guoan midfielder Renato Augusto and Juventus fullback Alex Sandro.

Tite had been hoping to call upon Marcelo but the Real leftback hasn’t recovered yet from a thigh problem suffered two weeks ago in the Clasico, which the Madrid side lost 5-1 against their bitter rivals from Barcelona.

Tite had been “waiting to see if he would recover” but after Marcelo missed Real’s 4-2 win over Celta Vigo at the weekend it was decided he wouldn’t be fit.

Brazil will play Uruguay at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium on Friday before taking on Cameroon in Milton Keynes four days later. –

Sao Paulo