Neymar gives Brazil momentary scare

Brazil briefly held its breath when Neymar went down clutching his right ankle in training on Monday, but the incident turned out to be nothing more than a momentary scare.

The fact that the 22-year-old forward went down when none of his national team colleagues were near him suggested a potential problem, just three days ahead of Brazil’s opening World Cup game against Croatia in Sao Paulo.

However, the striker quickly got back up and finished the training game at the Selecao’s Granja Comary base in Teresopolis.

A sprain to Neymar’s right ankle earlier this year sidelined him from Barcelona’s ranks for just under four weeks.

Monday’s training session indicated that coach Luiz Felipe Scolari will send out the same side that beat Serbia 1-0 in last Friday’s final warm-up friendly in Sao Paulo when they tackle the Croatians.

It is also the same team that beat Spain 3-0 in last year’s Confederations Cup final in Rio de Janeiro.

The XI comfortably beat Brazil’s supposed substitutes, with David Luiz, Hulk and Fred all scoring from open play and Luiz Gustavo and Neymar – proving that he had overcome his earlier knock – both finding the net from set-pieces. 

- AFP