Brazil struggles, but the focus is on Neymar

Brazil takes on Costa Rica on Friday needing a win to avoid equalling its worst ever World Cup run, but the focus of its concern is once again not on the team but on one individual — Neymar.

The Paris St Germain player loves the limelight but the attention ahead of Friday’s game in St Petersburg has come for all the wrong reasons.

Neymar was criticised for his performance in Brazil’s 1-1 draw with Switzerland in its opener last weekend. 

He was hunted down mercilessly by the Swiss, drawing ten of Brazil’s 19 fouls, as many as some entire teams.

But he was also below par and showed little sign of the form that made him the world’s most expensive footballer when Paris St Germain signed him from Barcelona last August.

Worse, many fans thought he was playing for himself rather than his country.

“Whenever the ball came to him he slowed the game down, irrespective of whether it was the right thing to do or not,” former France defender Marcel Desailly wrote in The Guardian.

“Because he knows he has the talent to change games, you get the impression Neymar wants to be the one to do that something special. But he has to understand that it’s not like that at international level. He might be the greatest player, but you have to think of the collective.”

Neymar limped out of Tuesday’s training session with a sore ankle, but he is expected to be fit for what could be Brazil’s fourth World Cup match without a win, an unwanted streak that would equal its poorest such run ever, recorded in 1974-1978.

Their opponents in St Petersburg are also desperate for points after they lost their opener to Serbia.

Quarter-finalists four years ago, Costa Rica has lost seven of its last nine matches and scored only five goals in the process. 

That form suggests the five-times world champions should secure the points.

Brazil, though, are not taking anything for granted — with or without Neymar’s undeniable brilliance.

“It is going to be a difficult game as are all games in the World Cup,” said Philippe Coutinho. “They are a good team. We saw the game against Serbia, and it was only decided through a dead ball situation.”

“This is another opportunity for us. We need to do it, we are all focused. We are mentally strong to play a great game.”

Family affair

Celso Borges will follow in his father’s footsteps on Friday when he plays for Costa Rica against Brazil as the family’s World Cup odyssey against the five-time champions continues. 

Borges’ father, Alexandre Guimares, grew up in Brazil until he moved to Costa Rica with his parents when he was young. He would go on to both play for and manage the “Ticos” against Brazil at the World Cup. 

Now, 28 years after his father faced Brazil as a player at Italia 90, it is Celso’s turn to put aside his strong family links to the South Americans in a vital World Cup game.

“I can’t deny it, there is a connection, of course — my connection to Brazil is maybe not as strong as my father’s, but some part of me still feels like it belongs there,” Borges told Reuters in an interview. 

“I’m 100 per cent Costa Rican and I would choose Costa Rica every time, but I cannot deny this family connection. It’s just a very special feeling.” 

The feelings of his father, who managed Costa Rica in a 5-2 loss to Brazil at the 2002 World Cup, may be slightly more mixed when his two nations face off on Friday, however. 

“Of course my father feels Costa Rican, he left Brazil when he was 12, but he has that Brazilian part that is very intense in him,” Borges said. 

“Whenever you play Brazil, in any circumstance, it’s always something special, it’s always something different. 

“It’s the country with the most World Cups, so it’s very different, but it’s still the game, it’s still enjoyable and it’s still fun.” 

Not only has the 30-year-old’s international career taken him in his father’s footsteps, during the last World Cup in Brazil it also took him to Recife, where his father’s parents came from. 

“It was crazy, because that was where we beat Italy and ended up qualifying for the quarter-finals,” Borges recalls. 

That 2014 side hit the headlines by defeating Uruguay and Italy and drawing with England to top its group, before beating Greece on penalties and losing a quarter-final shoot-out to The Netherlands. 

In Russia, however, Costa Rica are already on the back foot having lost to Serbia in their opening game. 

“I don’t think it was clear that any team deserved to win that game, but sometimes football is very complex — there’s a very thin line between winning and losing,” Borges said. 

The Costa Ricans would not fall into the trap of focusing all their defensive efforts on Neymar, the midfielder said. 

“If you concentrate too much on one guy, they can just put on another in attack, so you just have to be very organised, have good communication and marking. You can have everything planned but with this kind of player, it’s tough.”

Even with a decent result on Friday Costa Rica face an uphill task in its final group game against a Swiss side that drew 1-1 with Brazil in their Group E opener, but Borges said the squad could still advance to the knockout rounds. 

“We Costa Ricans are capable of great things when we join together and stay tight. I always think there’s a possibility,” he said.