Sao Paulo:Footballer Neymar, out with a broken foot since February will be ready to play at the World Cup in Russia, Brazil’s team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said here Friday.
Lasmar had carried out the surgery on the Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) player, who broke the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot, February 25 during a Ligue 1 match against Marseille.
“The expectation is for Neymar to arrive well prepared for the World Cup,” Lasmar was quoted as saying by ‘GloboEsporte’. “Our objective is that he recovers as well as possible,” Lasmar added.
The doctor said the PSG and Brazil star was recovering ‘in the best way possible’ and within the ‘planned time frame’, but admitted that Neymar would require intense physical conditioning and training in order for him to be ready to play, as he has been out of action since the end of February.
“We need to improve his physical condition. Players returning from injury deserve an individual assessment to draw up the best possible strategy for them,” Lasmar informed.
Neymar had surgery on his broken right foot March 3, and is currently recovering at his home in Mangaratiba, near Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil kick off their World Cup campaign with a Group E match June 18 against Switzerland. Brazil’s players will attend a training camp May 21 to 27 in Teresopolis, but Lasmar said that there could be an individual schedule for Neymar. “He will have to be eased back into training,” Lasmar stated. “After a lengthy lay-off he cannot be straightaway be inducted into the team.”
In the 2014 World Cup, played in Brazil, the hosts had lost 1-7 to Germany in the semifinals. Brazil were also then without the influential Neymar who had missed that game with an injury.
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