Neymar will play the World Cup – Brazilian coach Tite despite injury concerns

Brazil’s head coach Tite has confirmed that Neymar will continue to play in the ongoing FIFA World Cup despite getting injured in the team’s opening match against Serbia on Thursday. The talisman had to hobble off the pitch after he suffered an ankle injury in the 80th minute of the game.

Neymar’s ankle was visibly swollen but Tite confirmed that it’s not that serious and the PSG Saint Germain forward will continue to play.

“Neymar will play the World Cup, you can be sure of that,” Tite told a post-match press conference.

“I didn’t see that Neymar was injured. I only saw it later on the video (replay). He was able to play on and overcome (the pain),” he added.

Brazil team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar revealed the extent of the injury would be known in the next 24-48 hours.

“We’ll have to wait to make a full assessment, maybe tomorrow (Friday),” Lasmar said.

Brazil made a winning start to their World Cup campaign as they won by 2-0 against Serbia after Richarlison scored a brace.

On the other hand, Serbia manager Dragan Stokojovic admitted that the team’s progress has been hampered by a slew of injuries. Filip Kostic (thigh), Dusan Vlahovic (groin), and Aleksandar Mitrovic (ankle) have been included in the squad despite their injury concerns. Mitrovic played against Brazil on Thursday.

“I think we were on an equal level in the first 45 minutes,” Stojkovic told a post-match news conference. “I didn’t see that they were much more dominant at that stage. But in the second half we were physically at a lower level and Brazil knew how to take advantage of this because they have excellent players and they punished us.”

Brazil will play their second match of the tournament against Switzerland on Monday.