DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Welcome back, Neymar, at just the right time in the World Cup.
Neymar appeared healthy in training ahead of Monday’s match against South Korea in the round of 16. The striker missed the last two group games after injuring his right ankle in the opening game win over Serbia.
Brazil easily went to the next round without Neymar. No longer bothered by his ankle, Neymar was expected to start, and not come off the bench as a precaution, if he plays against South Korea.
“I prefer to use my best player from the start,” Brazil coach Tite said. “It is the coach who has to make that decision and assume that responsibility.”
In images released by the Brazilian soccer federation, he appeared to be in good condition, exercising with the ball and shooting on goal with no sign of his injury.
“Obviously we won’t say it’s better to face Brazil when Neymar is playing, but I always prefer when the best players are there,” South Korea coach Paulo Bento said.
Bento has not been satisfied with the three-day rest period between games from the group stage to the knockout round. Brazil advanced with a game to spare and was able to rest the team’s stars in their last game, but South Korea had to force their way into the knockout round with a win over Portugal.
“It’s not fair,” Bento said. “I think it has to do with the new reality of FIFA, which is creating worse conditions for less favored teams and probably better conditions for more favored ones.”
Even after the upset victory over Portugal, South Korea had to wait more than nine agonizing minutes of extra time for a game in Qatar to finish. Uruguay’s result against Ghana determined whether the South Koreans advanced to the round of 16.
When Uruguay failed to score the goals they needed to beat South Korea for the bottom spot in Group H, the South Korean players who had formed a circle on the pitch to watch the game by phone erupted into joyous celebration.
South Korea’s captain Son Heung-min even started crying.
South Korea is now trying to advance beyond the round of 16 for the first time since the Asian team’s historic run as co-hosts in 2002, when they reached the semifinals and finished fourth. South Korea were eliminated in the group stage in 2014 and 2018.
South Korea advanced by beating Portugal 2-1 on a dramatic stoppage-time goal from Hwang Hee-chan, who came on as a second-half substitute. He is expected to be back in the starting lineup against Brazil after missing the team’s first two games with a hamstring injury.
“In the first game it was impossible for me to play and the pain got worse. I ran a bit, but I thought I could play the second game, but they put up with me,” Hwang said, adding that playing against Portugal “was a bit risky. But I didn’t care what happened to me personally. I just wanted to contribute.”
It will be the first official meeting between Brazil and South Korea, with the South Americans winning six of seven friendlies. South Korea emerged victorious in 1999.
“We can’t think it’s going to be an easy game like it was in that friendly,” Brazil captain Thiago Silva said. “Now it is the World Cup and they have advanced in a very difficult group. We have a lot of respect for them.”
JAPAN-CROATIA
Japan and Croatia meet for the first time in the round of 16 of the World Cup after the teams met on two previous occasions in the group stage. Croatia won in 1998 and the teams finished to a goalless draw eight years later.
This time, Japan won Group E after coming back from 2-1 over Germany and Spain and is through to the knockout round of consecutive tournaments for the first time in the team’s history.
At stake for Japan is their first trip to the quarterfinals in four attempts.
“Japan is a team that doesn’t give up,” Croatia coach Zlatko Dalić said. “They faced goals early in the game against both Germany and Spain, but they came from behind. They had a lot of faith in themselves and that’s a great virtue of the Japan team.”
Croatia, runners-up to France at the 2018 World Cup, is making its third appearance in the knockout round. Croatia beat Romania in 1998 to advance to the semifinals and defeated Denmark 3-2 on penalties in 2018 en route to the final game, a 4-2 loss to reigning World Cup champions France.
It is the first time that Croatia will play an Asian team in a World Cup knockout match after eight previous games against European teams.
“For us, it will be key that we are also disciplined and patient,” Dalić said. “We can’t make mistakes because Japan have the quality to punish those mistakes. We need to be good at going back if we lose the ball.”
Croatia advanced despite two goalless draws in group play, matching the number of goalless games it had in the 2006, 2014 and 2018 tournaments, a span of 13 games.
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