Just a few days after being diagnosed with a broken vertebrae in his back and being airlifted away from Brazil’s training base, reports of Neymar making a dramatic return to the squad for the World Cup final, if they make it, are apparently wide of the mark.
Was that ever in doubt?
Anyway, reports on Sunday suggested that Neymar was thinking about taking extreme measures to try and ensure a lightning-quick recovery as Brazilian soccer fans fear the worst without their star man. Doctors at his former Brazilian club Santos said Neymar could make Sunday’s final with alternative treatments and painkilling injections.
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Neymar, 22, has scored four times at the World Cup and has been the hosts nations’ brightest offensive spark. Without him, many feel their run will come to and end at the semifinal stage against Germany.
However according to the doctors treating Neymar’s back injury, which he suffered after being kneed by Colombian player Juan Camilo Zuniga during the Selecao’s 2-1 quarterfinal win, state his condition is improving. That said, a return to a possible July 13 World Cup final match is pie in the sky stuff. Brazil team doctor Jose Luiz Runco stated that Neymar would be out for 45 days after fracturing his third vertebrae in his back.
The World Cup final is in six days.
“Let’s not create an illusion to the Brazilian people,” Runco told Globo TV. “There isn’t the smallest possibility for Neymar to play on July 13 if Brazil reaches the final. If Neymar becomes fit to play a professional football match before initially expected, it will be because of the positive progress of his condition through the treatment currently being administered.”
A glimmer of hope for the hosts is that the statement didn’t dismiss the possibility Neymar could play in the final but it did say that “no alternative treatment was discussed.”
It seems as though the entire population of Brazil has their hopes pined on Neymar making a miraculous recovery. Sorry folks, it just doesn’t seem like that’s possible.