Neymar is out of the rest of the group games

Superstar Neymar’s injury overshadowed Brazil’s 2-0 opening win at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar against Serbia. Suddenly the three points on the way to the longed-for “Hexa”, world title number six, were no longer the topic, but the right ankle of the 30-year-old. The PSG striker will miss the group stage after suffering an ankle injury sustained in the game, an inquest revealed on Friday.

The attacker himself reported via Instagram with a philosophical story. “Have faith” was the title of the book page that Neymar posted. “It’s believing that everything will be fine despite the chaos. It’s the certainty that the best is yet to come. It’s the understanding that everything has its time,” it said, among other things. The leader of the “Selecao” was substituted against Serbia in the 79th minute with a swollen ankle.

“We are confident that he can continue playing at this World Cup. He will continue this World Cup!” announced the 61-year-old national coach Tite after the game. Team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar reported a ligament injury on Friday, and full-back Danilo will also miss the games against Switzerland and Cameroon with such a diagnosis. The situation is a little reminiscent of what happened at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, when Neymar, a young star at the time, was sidelined with a back injury. In Brazil, the fear of an imminent World Cup exit for the superstar is also going around.

Dream goal receded into the background

The fact that double goalscorer Richarlison had scored a magic goal against the Serbs was almost forgotten when his team-mate was injured. After a template from Vinicius Júnior, the Tottenham Hotspur striker put the ball in front of himself in the penalty area and then shot it into the net with a spectacular side kick.

Richarlison, who had previously scored the first goal from close range, delighted the 88,103 spectators at Lusail Stadium with a gala performance. “It’s crazy, that’s what you dream of as a child, scoring a goal like that in a place like that,” said the 25-year-old. “As our professor Tite said, ‘I smell goals’.”

They managed to “turn the tables in the second half and decide the game. I was scared not to come here at all,” said the match winner, who had been injured for a long time. “Richarlison is a brilliant striker, a great player. But he alone is not important, everyone is important,” emphasized Casemiro.

Serbia limited itself to what Serbia is particularly good at: being unpleasant. The “Selecao” dominated the game, but she didn’t get anything for free. Hardly any offensive, the team of coach Dragan Stojkovic put everything into play against the ball. They tugged, pulled, straddled and fought – right in the middle was Salzburg kicker Strahinja Pavlovic, who played through. The Serbian bulwark was only breached after more than an hour.

‘No shame in losing to Brazil’

“Brazil are the top team at this World Cup. There’s no doubt about that,” said Stojkovic after the game. The 57-year-old explained the lack of power in attack with the injury problems in his team. “We have three key players injured: Filip Kostic, Stefan Mitrovic, Dusan Vlahovic is not at 100 percent. It’s too much for us. We’re not Brazil. We’re a small country,” said the former Red Star Belgrade star and Olympique Marseille.

Stojkovic unhesitatingly conceded the Brazilians’ “deserved victory”. “There’s no shame in losing to Brazil.” Logically, however, Richarlison’s thoughts were quite different. “It’s a wonderful night, a nice win and now we have six games left to reach our goal.”