adminsigning with Barcelona, but he arrived at the World Cup warm-up tournament marked by lacklustre performances in the famous yellow jersey.
He quickly changed that by scoring three goals in four matches, leading Brazil to the much-anticipated final against Spain. The 21-year-old striker was voted man of the match in the team’s first three matches and was decisive again in the semi-final against Uruguay.
“Barcelona must be beaming seeing what he has been doing here,” Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said.
“He has been playing well, making a difference against European defenders.”
Wearing the No. 10 jersey, Neymar opened the scoring for Brazil in the opener against Japan and also in the second match against Mexico, both times with remarkable goals.
He netted his third with a well-placed free kick against Italy, and he also assisted in both Brazil goals on Wednesday against Uruguay.
“Neymar is our idol, he is the people’s idol,” Scolari said.
“He has had a nice string of matches and everybody is happy about that. It’s important for him to be going through all of these different situations with Brazil because it’s something that will make him even better in the future.”
Neymar attracted everyone’s attention with great performances with Santos in Brazil, but critics were quick to downplay his potential after he failed to replicate that same success with the national team.
He was often criticised for diving too much, an issue that came up again during the Confederations Cup when Uruguay captain Diego Lugano publicly accused the Brazilian striker of trying to “fool the referees and the rivals.” The remarks prompted the Brazilian football federation to put out a lengthy statement in the player’s defence. “It’s worth repeating that Neymar doesn’t need to resort to diving to play the type of football that is enchanting the world,” the federation said. At the tournament Neymar has, like many attackers, gone to ground easily, but has also looked more muscular and resistant to the attentions of some of Europe’s best and biggest defenders. Neymar had been struggling before announcing his move to Barcelona. — AFP.
Online Reporter