Neymar's tears worry Brazil

Brazil open their 2024 Copa America campaign against Costa Rica on Monday in Los Angeles with a whole new look almost from top to bottom, with Real Madrid's rising star Vinicius Jr leading a group that were waiting for an opportunity for a fresh start.

After a heartbreaking shootout defeat by Croatia in the World Cup quarter-finals at Qatar 2022, Brazil went through two caretaker managers as they waited for almost an year trying to lure manager Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.

But after the Italian extended his contract with the Spanish giants, Brazil settled on journeyman Dorival Jr.

Dorival built a reputation as a versatile coach specialising in working his magic as fixer by taking over struggling teams halfway through a season with a remarkable success.

He won the Copa Libertadores and the Copa do Brazil with Flamengo a few months after taking over and when his six-month contract was not renewed he joined Sao Paulo and led them to a Brazilian Cup title before accepting the Brazil job in January.

Dorival had a lot on his plate with the national team as, while Brazil waited for Ancelotti, they went through a spell in the wilderness during which they had historic negative results.

They suffered defeat in three consecutive World Cup qualifiers for the first time, their first loss to Uruguay for 22 years and saw the end of a 58-match unbeaten home streak in the qualifiers, which led to their worst campaign ever with seven points from a possible 18 after six rounds.

Add to that the loss of talisman Neymar, with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee on international duty in October, and Brazil hit rock bottom.

With no Ancelotti and a team in turmoil, Dorival turned his attention to recovering the confidence and self esteem of a young and revamped squad in which Vinicius Jr claimed the responsibility of carrying the load as Brazil's key player.

With two months to prepare for matches against England and Spain, Dorival relied on his players' grit and pride, fixing up a team that was more feisty than colourful.

They got a 1-0 win over England at Wembley and fought back to draw 3-3 with Spain at the Bernabeu earlier this year.

In both games his hero was teenage sensation Endrick, who became the youngest to score at Wembley aged 17 and a few days later got the equaliser against Spain, leaving Real Madrid fans salivating as he is will soon join the European champions.

The Copa America will be the first time Dorival has had time to work extensively with his players, who face Costa Rica following a three-week training camp in Florida before taking on Paraguay and Colombia in Group D.

With most of the attention on world champions Argentina and Lionel Messi, now playing in the MLS, Brazil will start their Copa America campaign without great expectations - something Dorival will be familiar with from his experience at club level.

Al-Hilal's Aleksandar Mitrovic got a hat-trick as they continued their perfect start to the Asian Champions League Elite on Monday with a 3-0 win over Iran's Esteghlal, although the Saudi side's evening was soured by a late injury to Neymar.

Al-Ahli's Roberto Firmino and Riyad Mahrez ensured it was a positive evening for Saudi Pro League sides in the recently revamped continental competition with both netting twice in a 5-1 thrashing of Iraq's Al-Shorta in Jeddah.

Iran's Persepolis drew 1-1 with Al-Gharafa from Qatar and Al Wasl of the United Arab Emirates also shared a 1-1 draw with Qatari outfit Al-Sadd.

Al-Hilal and Al-Ahli have now won all four of their games in the league phase of the competition so far and opened up a four-point gap over third-placed Al-Sadd with fellow Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr a further point back in fourth.

Cristiano Ronaldo's side meet holders Al-Ain on Tuesday when Uzbekistan's Pakhtakor take on Al-Rayyan of Qatar.

The first eight finishers in the 12-team league phase in both west and east Asia will advance to the knockout rounds, which will be played in March.

Mitrovic put Al-Hilal ahead at Riyadh's Kingdom Arena with a 15th minute tap-in and doubled the advantage with another straightforward finish in the 33rd minute.

The former Fulham striker completed his hat-trick with a 74th minute header into the bottom corner from Joao Cancelo's cross from the right.

The evening ended on a sour note for Al-Hilal when Neymar, who returned two weeks ago from a year out due to a ruptured cruciate ligament, was replaced 29 minutes after his introduction from the bench due to injury.

In Jeddah, Firmino opened the scoring when he headed in Ziyad Al-Johani's 14th minute cross but, after Franck Kessie saw his penalty saved by Ahmed Basil, Sajjad Jasim levelled on the counter for Al Shorta.

However, Firmino restored his team's lead in first half injury time from three yards and then set up Feras Al-Brikan to score Al-Ahli's third also from close range eight minutes into the second half.

Mahrez slotted the fourth into the bottom corner in the 61st minute and added his side's fifth four minutes later.

Romain Saiss earned a point for Al-Sadd in Dubai, equalising for the Qatari outfit just after the hour in their draw with Al-Wasl to cancel out Alexis Perez's deflected 29th minute opener.

Substitute Ahmed Al-Ganehi levelled for Al-Gharafa, also in Dubai, three minutes after Farshad Faraji had given Persepolis a 53rd minute lead as the pair shared the points.

Neymar will be ruled out for between four and six weeks after scans revealed the Brazil forward had suffered a hamstring tear, his club Al Hilal said on Wednesday.

The 32-year-old lasted just 26 minutes as a second-half substitute before limping off with an apparent right hamstring strain in Monday's 3-0 AFC Champions League Elite win over Esteghlal.

Neymar, who moved to Saudi Arabia from Paris Saint-Germain in a lucrative deal in 2023, was out for more than a year until last month following right knee surgery.

Al Hilal coach Jorge Jesus said earlier this week that Neymar would miss at least two weeks' training following his latest injury setback.

"He will undergo a treatment and rehabilitation program that will last from four to six weeks," Al Hilal said on social media.

Al Hilal, the reigning Saudi champions, have not registered Neymar for the current Saudi Pro League season, which began last month.

But the former Barcelona player, with a reported salary of about 100 million euros ($112 million) a year, is listed to play in the AFC Champions League Elite, Asia's biggest club tournament.

France's teenage forward Kylian Mbappe, who scored two goals as Les Bleus beat Argentina in the round of 16 yesterday, brushed off comparisons with Brazil great Pele.

"I'm very happy, and it's flattering to be compared to a great player like Pele," he said.

"But he's in another category. Still, it's great to join the list of players that have achieved such feats."

Mbappe was born in 1998, the year Les Bleus secured their first World Cup title under captain Didier Deschamps.

Deschamps, now national manager, praised his team's character to fight back from 2-1 down.

"If I am a coach it is because I want to live this: a full stadium, highly experienced teams. Our team is much younger, but it's there," Deschamps said.

"We answered the call, we have a lot of character and it was not easy as we were leading, then there was an equaliser, then we were 2-1 behind, but we kept fighting."

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