Brazil’s superstar Neymar

An injury scare for Brazil’s superstar Neymar has highlighted the pressure heaped on the young man’s shoulders.

Across the nation you could hear the sharp intake of breath and sense the very palpable relief just a few nervous minutes later.

Neymar went down after catching his toe on the turf and twisting his ankle looking to be in pain. It appeared the 22-year-old star would join a host of his colleagues taking in the World Cup from their living rooms.

However, after getting treatment, Neymar was able to shake off the knock and return to training as normal, as the nation took a collective sigh of relief.

The World Cup will be missing out on a host of stars who have fallen injured just for the start of the tournament with France’s Franck Ribery, Germany’s Marco Reus and Russian captain, Roman Shirokov being forced to stay at home after succumbing to injuries in the warm-up friendlies, while Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo is in a fitness race for the opener against Ghana as he battles tendinitis in his knee.

“It’s been a dream since I was young, and today it’s right before me. I’m Brazil’s No.10, I’m going to play the World Cup, in my own country,” said Neymar, in an interview to be published in the July issue of The Red Bulletin.

“I can’t see that as pressure. It has to give me pride and happiness to take onto the pitch. Everyone says winning the World Cup is an indescribable joy, so I’m dying to feel that myself. I can’t wait to shout: ‘We’re champions!’

“They say, ‘You’re under pressure, being the big name in the squad’. I’m not under pressure, I’m happy. I’ve always done things my way. I’ve had press with me since I was 13, saying I’d be the new Robinho. I’m someone who doesn’t really worry. If you don’t tell me that I’m Neymar and that I play for Barcelona and Brazil, I’ll forget it.

“People imagine me as they see me on television, but I’m completely different because I don’t feel pressure about anything.”

Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has confidently predicted Brazil will take on Argentina in next month’s final, setting up the mouthwatering prospect of Neymar pitting his skills against Nou Camp club-mate Lionel Messi.

But ahead of tomorrow’s tournament opener against Croatia in Sao Paulo, Scolari is still far from settled on his best team. He spent much of his last training session fiddling with his defence, repeatedly stopping practice to position his troops.

Brazilian football might be all about the rampaging Samba style of its attacks but the former Chelsea manager firmly believes victory needs its foundations.

“We know that if we don’t concede goals, our chances to win matches increase, because we know the kind of talent we have in attack,” he said.

“It’s important we are well prepared in defence so we are not caught by surprise, Croatia are a good team, they now how to counter.

“Physically we are ready, but tactically we still have to adjust a few things.”

Brazil enters its final days of preparations for the World Cup paying extra attention to its defense.

Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari spent part of the team’s training session on Monday making adjustments to the defensive setup, stopping practice several times to reposition players until he was satisfied.

Although Brazil didn’t concede a goal in its two warm-up matches before the World Cup, Scolari said he was not completely satisfied with how his squad played defensively. He didn’t even like how the team practiced at times, and publicly said his players were giving up too much space for counterattacks.

One of the coach’s main goals in the last week of preparations was to make sure the team ready defensively in time for the opener against Croatia on Thursday.

“We know that if we don’t concede goals, our chances to win matches increase, because we know the kind of talent we have in attack,” Scolari said. “It’s important we are well prepared on defense so we are not caught by surprise.”

Right back Daniel Alves acknowledged that Brazil’s defense isn’t perfect, but said the team is working to improve before the opener.

When told that Croatia striker Ivica Olic said he saw spaces in Brazil’s defense during the warm-up matches, Alves acknowledged that adjustments still have to be made.

“Obviously, if we didn’t make mistakes, we would be a perfect team, and that’s not possible,” the Barcelona defender said. “If Olic saw spaces, then we have to make sure we fix that so he can’t find them anymore.”

The last time Brazil conceded a goal was in a 2-1 win over Chile in a friendly last November. Brazil beat Panama 4-0 and Serbia 1-0 last week.

— Agencies