Neymar to play on at World Cup despite injury: Brazil coach Tite

Brazil manager Tite said star forward Neymar would fight through the pain barrier to continue playing in the FIFA World Cup despite an ankle injuryThe 30yearold suffered the injury in the secondhalf of Brazils 20 victory over Serbia in Group G on Friday and played on for several minutes before being substituted by Manchester United forward Antony He was later seen in tears while sitting on the bench with noticeable swelling in his right ankleNeymar will play the World Cup you can be sure of that Tite told a postmatch press conference reports XinhuaI didnt see that Neymar was injured I only saw it later on the video replay He was able to play on and overcome the pain he addedBrazil team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said the extent of the injury would be known in 2448 hours Well have to wait to make a full assessment maybe tomorrow Friday Lasmar saidAlso readAll set for Neymar 20He added that medical staff was also monitoring an ankle injury sustained by rightback Danilo during the match at Lusail stadiumMeanwhile Serbia manager Dragan Stojkovic has blamed injuries to key players for his teams poor second half in the defeat to Brazil After an evenly balanced first half Brazil forward Richarlison scored twice in 11 minutes as the South American side made a perfect start to the tournament in Group GI think we were on an equal level in the first 45 minutes Stojkovic told a postmatch news conference I didnt see that they were much more dominant at that stage But in the second half we were physically at a lower level and Brazil knew how to take advantage of this because they have excellent players and they punished usStojkovic said his team had been handicapped by injuries to Filip Kostic thigh Dusan Vlahovic groin and Aleksandar Mitrovic ankle before the World Cup beganAll three were included in Serbias final 26man squad but only Mitrovic played on Thursday Those injuries are too much for us Were not Brazil with 200 million people We are a very small country Stojkovic said Thats a fact Im very sorry because they got injured just before the World Cup so they are very unluckyHe promised his team would rebound ahead of the next match against Cameroon on Monday which Serbia must win to have any chance of progressing to the round of 16 Youll see a different team in the next match than the one tonight he said Brazil is the top team There is no doubt about it Brazil one of the favourites to winIt was a deserved win for Brazil We hope to turn the page against Cameroon and hope to have healthy players he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever