Neymar
was taken off on a stretcher in the 88th minute of Brazil's
2-1 win over Colombia after getting kneed in the back by Juan
Camilo Zuniga. He was immediately taken to a local hospital in a tremendous
amount of pain and a short time later, Brazil's team doctor confirmed that he will miss the
remainder of the World Cup with a fractured vertebra.
From Reuters:
Rodrigo Lasmar told Brazil's SportTV: "It's not serious
in the sense that it doesn't need surgery, but he'll need to immobilize it to
recover.
"Unfortunately, he's not going to be able to
play," said Lasmar, adding that he expected the recovery period to take at
least a few weeks.
Neymar's absence for the semifinal
against Germany will be a devastating loss for Brazil. Along with David Luiz, he has been the shining star of a
team that thus far has been very unconvincing. He leads Brazil with four goals
in five matches.
However, Yahoo global football
ambassador Jose Mourinho believes that the absence of captain Thiago Silva, who will be suspended for Brazil's
next match because of yellow card accumulation, will hurt the team more than
the loss of Neymar. But with both players out, the order of importance is
irrelevant. This is a combination of absolute nightmare circumstances that
could be too much to overcome for the host nation, which dreamed of finally
avenging the still painful 1950 World Cup loss on home soil.
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