At a press conference this Friday, the Brazil coach mentioned the Neymar case, with whom he had a clash at Santos.
Victim of a ruptured cruciate knee ligament, Neymar will probably not play again this season with the Saudi clubAl-Hilal which he joined last summer. But hope still persists for the 31-year-old’s possible participation in the Copa America, which will take place from June 20 in the United States.
A 14 year old incident
If he is fit to play and selected for the competition, the former Paris Saint-Germain player will find Dorival Junior, recently appointed head of the Seleçao and who knows the Brazilian star quite well. But we have to go back to September 2010 to remember the altercation between the two men. Neymar, then aged 18, had insulted his coach (at Santos) because he had not let him take a penalty which he had obtained, followed by the dismissal of Dorival.
Present at a press conference, the new Brazilian coach showed that he did not have the slightest resentment towards Neymar, from whom he hopes for a return as quickly as possible. “Brazil must learn to play without Neymar because he is injured at the moment. But we have to know that we have one of the three best players in the world at the moment. Neymar is a very important player, as long as he is recovered, fit and fully focused. I have no problem with Ney. The situation (in 2010) took on proportions beyond what we expected, unnecessarily”he indicated.
