Brazil squad report on Wednesday for Copa, CBF assess Neymar
· Yahoo Sports
Brazil’s national team officially begins its road to the World Cup this Wednesday (27).
Under Carlo Ancelotti’s command, the squad will report to Granja Comary, in Teresópolis, in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro, to undergo medical exams — with plenty of attention on Neymar — and begin training ahead of the World Cup and the farewell friendly against Panama.
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The expectation is that 22 players will go through the round of exams throughout Wednesday morning, with training sessions running until Saturday afternoon (30), when the team travels down to Rio de Janeiro.
The only confirmed absences at Granja Comary are the Champions League finalists: Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães and Martinelli.
The trio will only join the rest of the delegation next Monday, already in New Jersey, in the United States.
The match against Panama takes place on Sunday (1) at 6:30 p.m. (Brasília time) at the Maracanã.
After that, Brazil will also face Egypt on Thursday, June 6, in the city of Cleveland, in the United States.
Expectations surrounding Neymar
The main point of attention at the start of this work is forward Neymar, the only called-up player reporting without being active for his club.
The Santos player suffered calf edema on the 17th, in a match against Coritiba.
Even before the final squad announcement, Santos’ board sent a document to the CBF assuring that the player would be cleared to train with the ball as soon as he reported.
However, backstage information reveals that the star will still need to continue treatment at Granja Comary, running a real risk of missing both the friendly against Panama and the clash against Egypt.
This communication breakdown caused strong internal discomfort, affecting everyone from the national teams department to the top ranks of the CBF.
Choosing to avoid public controversy, the confederation decided it will only officially address the matter when the forward is actually available to the coaching staff, but there is great apprehension over the results of the medical evaluations scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
Neymar himself, when recently asked in a video whether his physical condition would be a “problem” for Ancelotti, downplayed the injury by saying his calf “is here, intact.”
Defensive midfielder Casemiro got ahead of the others and was the first to arrive at the training camp, still on Tuesday (26).
That same night, Danilo and Lucas Paquetá, for Flamengo, and Weverton, for Grêmio, took the field for their clubs and left their matches without any medical issues.
The first on-field activity with the ball takes place at 5 p.m. (Brasília time), with the press barred from attending. To round out training for the main squad, the CBF called up two youngsters from the youth setups of Vasco and Botafogo.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.