MY ACCOUNT
Tite warned Brazil must be “very careful” in the knockout stage of the World Cup, when they will hope to have Neymar back from injury.
The Selecao lost 1-0 to Cameroon on Friday but still topped Group G, meaning they will face South Korea in the second round, rather than Portugal.
Spain’s defeat the previous day appeared to open up the draw further for Brazil, who would now play the winner of Japan’s clash with Croatia in the quarter-finals.
Regardless of their opponents, Brazil will feel more comfortable once Neymar is back in action, but he has not yet trained with a ball following his matchday one injury.
Team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar added: “With 72 hours before the next match, we have time on our side. We still have possibilities.”
With or without his star man, coach Tite certainly will not become complacent, explaining: “Brazil lost to Cameroon. Portugal lost to South Korea. France lost to Tunisia. Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia. I think the results speak for themselves.
“I think these are very strong, very tough matches. I don’t think we can think any prior situation makes it easy. We need to be very careful.
“We were very careful with the match against Cameroon. We were. We had all of those cares, we took them. They had their merits, played vertically very well. They have merit for the victory like Tunisia and the others.
“We can’t say it’s easier and we have an advantage. We can’t say that.”
Tite had made nine changes to his Brazil team, selecting an entirely different XI to that which started their finals opener.
But he said: “Who lost? All of us. Our preparation is joint preparation, our wins are joint wins, our losses are also joint losses.”
The coach called on Brazil to “feel the loss”, saying: “The World Cup doesn’t give you a second chance, but this time it did.
“We have to concentrate for 24 hours, suffer for 24 hours, and tomorrow we start getting ready.”
Besides Neymar’s progress, there was mixed news on the injury front, with Alex Sandro still recovering alongside the forward but Danilo set to train normally on Saturday.
That is a timely boost as Alex Telles and Gabriel Jesus are set for scans on knee injuries sustained against Cameroon.
