Neymar: ‘Tite is a great coach’

Brazil captain Neymar Junior has spoken for the first time about the appointment of Tite as the Seleção’s new coach. Tite was appointed last month following the sacking of Dunga, axed after another poor Copa América tournament saw Brazil exit at the group stage. Neymar was not part of that squad, having been spared for […]
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sambafoot_admin
2016-07-11 17:37:00

Brazil captain Neymar Junior has spoken for the first time about the appointment of Tite as the Seleção’s new coach. Tite was appointed last month following the sacking of Dunga, axed after another poor Copa América tournament saw Brazil exit at the group stage.

Neymar was not part of that squad, having been spared for the Olympics in August. Rogerio Michale will coach the Olympic side, with Tite set to take the hot seat for September World Cup qualifiers. Neymar, who signed a new contract with Barcelona this summer, insists Tite is the right man for the job.

"I have not had contact with Tite yet, but he"s a great coach. I"m sure he will give his best and will make the Seleção very happy." Asked if he had a preferred position to play under the new boss, Neymar was coy.

"I just wanna play. I wanna play. It is very difficult to be in the national team, you have many quality players. I just want to be there to help, add and help Brazil to be great again."

Quizzed on whether Brazil should choose a system akin to Barca’s to extract the best from Neymar, the player was dismissive, "No Every coach has his methods and his philosophy. I do not know how Tite will coach us yet. I hope that is what he thinks is the best. But it is different. The philosophy [of Barcelona] was already before and myself, Messi and Suarez fit it well."

The Barca forward also admits that World Cup qualification is far from assured for Brazil, who currently sit 6th– outside of the playoff place- in the CONMEBOL table at the moment. But he remains bullish about their prosepcts.

"It"s a complicated case. All of the teams are strong. All teams are tactically good, attacking well. We know we have a lot of difficulty, but Brazil is Brazil. I rely heavily in our team, rely heavily on the players. I"m sure we will qualify for the World Cup."