Brazil’s Olympic coach Rogerio Micale says he is confident captain Neymar will one day be the best player in the world, but warned Brazilian football that it must show the Barcelona star more respect or they risk losing him. Two years ago Brazil was thrashed 7-1 by Germany in the semifinal of the home World Cup.
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“There have been questions asked, but I still think we have some great players”, Micale said.
“If we don’t respect our best players they might not want to be with us anymore”, he said.
Neymar, Brazil’s captain, was also criticized for not taking a more active role as the one of the team’s most experienced players.
Having been held to two goalless draws by minnows South Africa and Iraq in their opening two matches, Neymar and Co are in danger of elimination.
Twitter was awash with the hashtage “Neymar out, Marta in”, and a picture of a boy wearing a Brazil shirt with Neymar’s name scrubbed out and Marta written in pen underneath went viral. “Neymar wanted to be with the national side and he had to take this on and at the age of 24 people are making so many demands of him”.
Barcelona’s Neymar has attracted fierce criticism, with his lacklustre and petulant displays being compared with Marta, the Brazilian women’s five-time World Player of the Year, who has dazzled in leading the hosts into the quarter-finals with a game to spare.
“A player generally peaks at 28, both physically and mentally. Neymar has had to deal with the pressure of being a leader since he was 17 years old”. We only need a single victory to reach the next round and remain alive in our fight for a medal.
Denmark now sit atop the group on four points after a horrifically boring 0-0 draw with Iraq to open their campaign before squeezing past South Africa with a 1-0 win.
Midfielder Renato Augusto said Brazil’s struggles at the Olympic tournament have upset Neymar.
“We need to work hard because we depend only on ourselves for qualification”. “Everyone is supporting him”.
But Micale said Brazil need to reflect on the state of the national game rather debating whether to strip Neymar of the captaincy. “Things will be different when the balls starts going in”, Micale said.
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Amazingly, Brazil’s fate could even come down to the drawing of lots with Iraq, who play South Africa, if both final group matches end in a draw by the same scoreline.
