Neymar walked in an awkward way out of a training session on Tuesday, after he was playing keep-away with a few other players. This sends danger signals in the Brazil unit as they prepare for their second World Cup group game against Costa Rica on Friday.
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“Neymar came out of training today with a painful right ankle,” said Vinicius Rodrigues, a spokesman for the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).
The Paris Saint-Germain star forward had not taken part in training on Monday, as the side returned to their base in Sochi. The superstar striker was set to undergo physiotherapy later in the day with an eye toward being fit for Wednesday afternoon’s training.
Rodrigues said the problem concerned the Paris Saint-Germain star’s ankle and not the foot he fractured in February, an injury that forced him to miss the rest of the club campaign.
“As soon as he felt the pain he went to the physio. He will stay there for today and tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, and will train as normal tomorrow,” added Rodrigues.
“What we can do is to calm down. A Shorter workout was planned for the starters today, they’re still in a regenerative process. Neymar trained a little, felt the pain, returned to physical therapy and tomorrow trains normally.” team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said.
Phillipe Coutinho, who had a dream world cup debut as he managed to score the lone goal against Switzerland in their first encounter said after the game that Brazil expect to be targeted by opponents.
“Yes, Switzerland hit us a lot … but all matches will be like this, I guess. We’re talking about a World Cup so everybody will try to defend their game,” Coutinho told reporters.
“Neymar is OK, of course. But, as you can see during the match, sometimes the opponents make turns to foul and in many passes when it’s not necessary to foul, you have it and the match gets paralysed- but that’s how it is.“
