Monday, July 7, 2014
Can Brazil win without Neymar?
Neymar fractured his vertebra
Friday night during his team's World Cup quarterfinal win over Colombia and
will miss the remainder of the football tournament, team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar
told reporters after the game.
The 22-year-old got kneed in the back during a second-half collision with a Colombian player. He rolled on the ground afterward, then cried in apparent pain while being taken off the field on a stretcher. His loss is a huge blow for Brazil, which entered the World Cup with steep expectations given its traditional excellence in the sport -- its won more championships than any other country -- and the fact it is hosting the tourney for the first time since 1950.
Neymar is not the only one unavailable for the semifinal: Thiago Silva, the squad's captain, will also miss the game after getting his second yellow card on Friday -- which automatically rules him out of his next game.
Neymar has been the face of his team in his native Brazil and around the world. He has scored four goals, more than anyone else on his team and anyone in the tournament besides Colombia's James Rodriguez. (Argentina's Lionel Messi and Germany's Thomas Mueller also have four goals, like Neymar.)
A standout with the Brazilian club Santos, Neymar moved last summer to one of the world's richest, most successful clubs in FC Barcelona.
Messi, his teammate there, was
among those who offered their regrets that Neymar is out of the World Cup and their
best wishes for a speedy recovery.
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