Neymar limped out of Brazil’s training session at the World Cup on Tuesday because of pain in his right ankle. The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said the injury was not serious, adding that Neymar left as a precaution and would be back in training on Wednesday.
The CBF said Neymar has been in pain since the team’s 1-1 draw against Switzerland on Friday, when he was consistently fouled. Neymar started training with the rest of the squad but left accompanied by a doctor about 30 minutes into the session in Sochi.
He had been involved in a game of rondo with a few other players when he started showing signs of discomfort in his ankle. He was visibly in pain after he tried to intercept a ball with his right foot while at the centre of the rondo circle.
At one point, he bent down and grabbed his ankle but tried to continue playing anyway. A few moments later he finally decided to leave, kicking a ball away with his left foot before limping away beside the team doctor.
“Neymar left the training session with some pain in his right ankle because of the number of fouls he suffered in the game against Switzerland,” said the CBF spokesman Vinicius Rodrigues. “Since today was only a recovery session for the starters, and he complained about pain, he ended going to rehabilitation.”
Rodrigues said Neymar would continue his recovery process but was set to train normally on Wednesday, two days before the team’s match against Costa Rica in St Petersburg. Brazil and Switzerland are two points behind the group leaders, Serbia, who defeated Costa Rica 1-0 in their opener.
Meanwhile, the CBF has asked Fifa why the video assistant referee was not used to review two key decisions they believe hindered their side during the 1-1 draw with Switzerland on Sunday.
Brazil players complained long and hard that the defender Miranda was pushed by Steven Zuber when he headed home Switzerland’s equaliser early in the second half of their Group E opener. They also believe Gabriel Jesus was manhandled inside the penalty area and should have been awarded a spot kick. Neither incident appeared to be reviewed.
“The CBF requires to know from Fifa the reason the technology was not used in key incidents during the game,” the organisation said in a statement.
VAR is being used in the World Cup for the first time and, according to Fifa, should only “correct clear and obvious errors and missed incidents in clearly defined match‑changing decisions”.
Brazil believe the two incidents, neither of which they referred to directly, are covered by that explanation.