After his obvious absence in the tragedy that is Brazil's 7-1 loss against Germany in the World Cup semifinals, the Brazil Football Association has confirmed that the football star would be attending the third-place playoffs between his home team and the Netherlands on Saturday in Brasilia. This has been confirmed by Brazil football federation spokesman Rodrigo Paiva to R7.com. The announcement was made at Brazil's World Cup headquarters in Teresopolis, near Rio de Janeiro.
Neymar, who was ruled out to play for the rest of Brazil's tournament campaign due to a career-threatening back injury, would have had given Brazil an edge along suspended defender and captain Thiago Silva in the semifinals. The loss had been a humiliating one, with backup captain David Luiz and the team receiving boos from their home court after the final whistle in the semifinals match was blown. Although the German defense and tight playing strategy were the reasons that helped Germany win the game, it was easy for everyone, and even pundits to believe that Brazil would have a fighting chance for the World Cup championship if the two absent players would have played in the match.
Although it was clear that Neymar's presence in the third-place match was his way of showing support to his teammates, people are suspecting that at the very least, the football star could overcome the fractured vertebrae he received during a collision with Colombia's Juan Zuniga in an earlier match to play in the upcoming game. NDTV reported rumors about the Brazilian footballer considering getting ayurveda treatment for his injured back in Kerala. On the other hand, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has since denied the rumors, and had told a local station that nothing of that sort has happened. On the other hand, he disclosed that there have been requests from fans for the government to put up a proposal to treat Neymar using the native Hindu traditional medicine system.
