Brazil vs South Korea: When the Brazilian team takes the field against South Korea in the pre-quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup on Monday late night (10:00 pm local time), it will be interesting to see whether the team’s veteran player Neymar returns from injury or not. That would be decided by his performance in Brazil’s final warm-up session before the match. The Brazilian star missed two games in the group stage after injuring his right ankle in the team’s opening win against Serbia. He trained with teammates on Saturday but it is unclear whether he is fully fit to take the field against South Korea.
Tite said before the team’s practice session on Sunday, “He will practice this afternoon.” If he does well in the practice session, he will play.” Tite said that if he is fit to play, he will be included in the starting XI. He said, “I like to use my best player from the beginning of the match. It is the coach’s job to make such decisions and to take responsibility for it. However, he had to face defeat against Cameroon in the last match. South Korea’s team made it to the pre-quarterfinals by defeating Portugal, a team of veteran players like Cristiano Ronaldo. The team has reached the knockout stage after 12 years.
Neymar was injured in the team’s opening match against Serbia. His condition improved after undergoing a physiotherapy session and he was seen practicing properly in a video released by the team on Saturday. This would be the first time that Brazil and South Korea would face each other in an official match. The two teams have played seven friendlies so far, with Brazil winning six.
South Korea’s only victory came in 1999. Hwang Hee-chan scored in stoppage-time to give South Korea a historic victory against Portugal. The team was able to advance in the tournament thanks to this goal. Hwang, who was ruled out of the team’s first two matches due to a hamstring strain, is expected to be back in the starting lineup against Brazil. South Korea reached the semi-finals of the tournament in 2002 as co-hosts. Its campaign ended in the group stage in 2014 and 2018. The Brazilian team is pushing to win the title for the first time since 2002
