FRIDAY, JULY 4, 2014 46 Winning ugly no issue for anxious Brazil FORTALEZA: Brazil striker Neymar has admitted he is happy to win ugly as he looks to take another step towards delivering his country’s sixth World Cup on home soil against Colombia in Fortaleza today. La Selecao have been criticised for some of their less convincing performances on route to the quarter- finals, most notably in squeezing past Chile on penalties in the last 16. “You can’t always enjoy yourself and win 4-0 or 5- 0. Football nowadays is so difficult, so even, that the team who is most committed on the pitch ends up winning,” said the Barcelona man on Wednesday. “I don’t want a show. That’s the last thing we are trying to do. We are not necessarily here to produce a spectacle. We are here to run to the end, until we are tired, and come out as winners.” Neymar fell to the ground in tears as Chile’s Gonzalo Jara missed the decisive spot-kick in the shootout in Belo Horizonte with teammates Julio Cesar and captain Thiago Silva also seen to cry in relief as much as joy. Worried that carrying the expectations of 200 mil- lion Brazilians is becoming too much for his squad, coach Luiz Felipe Scolari called the team’s sports psychologist Regina Brandao in for an extra session RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil’s Neymar (left) Ramires (center) and David Luiz during a training session for the World Cup 2014 in with the players on Tuesday. And Neymar said the Teresopolis. — AFP sessions were having the desired effect. “I had never done anything like it before and I am quite enjoying it,” added the 22-year-old. “It is not only us, in foot- ball, who are surrounded by emotion every day and It’s only a game! WCup need psychologists. I think it could do every person good, to make one more relaxed.” Neymar also insisted he will be fully-fit to face the keeps fans laughing Colombians despite suffering thigh and knee injuries against Chile. One of the major concerns for Scolari has been the lack of support for Neymar in attacking BELO HORIZONTE: What’s the difference place their necks or arms inside his open Jones drew a few unintentional laughs, how- areas as he has scored half of his side’s eight goals between a tea-bag and the England football mouth on a larger-than-life Adidas ad photo ever, when he clattered into the referee and after four games, whilst other forwards Fred, Jo and team? The tea-bag stays in a cup longer! of Suarez’s head. Adidas, perhaps embar- fell flat on the floor during one game. Hulk have struggled to make an impact. Neymar, Heard what Spain’s coach Vicente Del rassed by negative associations round an ad Germany’s Thomas Mueller initially had though, claimed the team isn’t overdependent on Bosque said to his charges after two shock made before the incident, took it down. spectators chuckling at him when he stum- him. “I don’t feel overburdened either on the pitch losses? “Don’t worry, we still have options: A modified version of the Panini sticker of bled to his knees during a free-kick routine or off it. I have team-mates who help me by winning aisle or window seats.” With the World Cup Suarez’s victim, Italian defender Giorgio against Algeria. He had the last laugh, entering its final stages, the jokes are flying as Chiellini, has been circulating with a chunk though, revealing it was a deliberate trick to the ball back, scoring goals, setting them up,” he fast as goals, helping relieve tension and - for missing. Yet the Uruguayan, who has apolo- throw defenders off guard. said. fans of the 24 teams already out - the abject gised for the incident which earned him a The question is, do we believe him? “In “The Brazil team doesn’t have just one person misery of elimination. four-month ban, is by no means the World training it always worked,” team mate Toni who has to do everything.” Scolari will be forced into Be it on, off or thousands of miles away Cup’s only pantomime villain. Kroos said. “But it looks like crap when it at least one change from the side that faced Chile as from the pitch it has been another tourna- Netherlands forward Arjen Robben, doesn’t.” Argentina’s Ezequiel Lavezzi was Luis Gustavo is suspended so Tottenham Hotspur’s ment packed with hilarity. The inglorious ear- though a hero to Dutch fans for his goals and lucky his boss saw the funny side of things, Paulinho is expected to come back into the side. ly exit of supposed European heavyweights tricks, has become a target for many due to instead of fining him, after he nonchalantly Gustavo’s absence is even more critical for the hosts England, Spain, Italy and Portugal brought perceptions of diving and feigning fouls. squirted water over coach Alejandro Sabella given the sensational form of the tournament’s top heartache in those nations at first, then a The fall that gave the Netherlands a penal- on the side of the pitch. “Players like Lavezzi goalscorer, Colombia’s James Rodriguez. wave of self-deprecating humor. One photo ty earning them a last-gasp 2-1 win over are always very positive, because they keep The Monaco playmaker has taken on the mantle doing the rounds shows their four planes Mexico has earned particular notoriety. players happy,” Sabella said. of his side’s focal point with ease in the absence of lined up in blue sky with the caption: A plethora of internet users have lam- Mexico coach Miguel Herrera has the injured Radamel Falcao with five goals in four “Permission to land?” pooned Robben as lifting an Oscar for Best appeared blissfully unaware of the smiles his games, including a sensational dipping volley to Actor, competing in Olympic diving, and manic-looking celebrations have caused, open the scoring in his side’s 2-0 win over Uruguay ‘DRACULA’ SUAREZ, ‘DIVER’ ROBBEN plunging arms-flailing off the cliffs of turning him into an internet sensation during in the last 16. A fourth consecutive win for Jose England fans showed a fine ability to Acapulco. The sagas over Suarez and Robben the World Cup. Pekerman’s men took them into the last eight for the laugh at themselves, chanting during their have largely deflected attention from the Some jokes always backfire. After the first time and ahead of the biggest game in final match the self-parodying song from a man many fans most love to mock, Sepp Netherlands eliminated Mexico, a politically Colombian football’s history, midfielder Carlos Monty Python film: ‘Always Look On The Blatter, head of the sport’s world governing incorrect KLM airline Tweet read “Adios Sanchez insisted they won’t be overawed by their Bright Side of Life’. One fan, who flew to Brazil body FIFA. One company in England, where Amigos” with a caricatured photo of a mous- after England had been knocked out to see a he comes under constant fire from media tachioed Mexican man in a sombrero. The opponents. dire 0-0 draw with Costa Rica, held up a ban- over his management of FIFA, launched a outrage was swift, bringing a KLM apology “Afraid? No, respectful, yes, because it’s Brazil, the ner mimicking a well-known credit card ad - new online game in which the player hurls and a vow from Mexican actor Gael Garcia organising country, because of its players, its coach- “Flights to Rio: 1,200 pounds. Enjoying the gold, money and riches into the mouth of a Bernal never to fly with them again. es, and for everything Brazil represents,” he said. ambiance: 2,000 pounds. Accommodation: guffawing Blatter-like persona crying “Give But back to the European flops. There was a And Rodriguez believes Brazil should be just as 2,000 pounds. Arriving after elimination: me more!”Reporters at FIFA’s briefings have touch of high art in one jest at Spanish coach worried about him as his countrymen should be priceless.” been asking whether Blatter’s low profile here Del Bosque’s expense, his head super-imposed about Neymar. Naturally, the tournament’s main talking in Brazil is to avoid being booed in public. It’s over Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’ painting. “We’re facing a very tough rival, which has great point - Uruguay striker Luis Suarez’s ban for an “editorial” policy, officials say. And English satirical magazine Private Eye was players, but they also have to think that we have biting - has spawned a vast array of doctored so sure of what was coming in Brazil, even great players.” History, though, is against the images depicting him variously wearing a SLAPSTICK MOMENTS before the games had begun, it printed a Colombians as they have only beaten Brazil twice in dog-cone round his neck, a Dracula outfit, or Once they take the field, it’s a deadly seri- front-cover showing the players alighting from 25 previous meetings and only once in a competitive a Hannibal Lecter mask. ous game for players, and few would dare their plane while the pilot asks: “Shall I keep fixture at the 1991 Copa America. — AFP Tourists in Rio de Janeiro queued up to joke around. The United States’ Jermaine the engines running?” —Reuters.