Mário Zagallo, a world champion for Brazil as a coach and player, praised the quality of Barcelona forward Neymar, but thinks the 24-year-old lacks the maturity to be the captain of the national team.
Another issue addressed by Zagallo was the Brazilian defense, as he thinks the national team would be better with Thiago Silva and Marcelo over David Luiz and Filipe Luís. Zagallo told Extra: “I like Neymar a lot. He is an exceptional player, he"s got everything it takes to go on even further, but he needs to develop an awareness that he"s leading the Brazilian national team. He can"t step out of line. He"s not as mature as he should be."
He added: “I"m not a big fan of David Luiz, but Thiago Silva is the best [defender] in the world. Why he"s left out I do not know, it"s a problem of them, and I don"t want to go into that here. For example, Marcelo, who is also not playing. For me, he should be the starter on the left side, but the coaching staff has their own way of seeing things. The team would be better with Thiago and Marcelo."
Mário Zagallo, a world champion for Brazil as a coach and player, praised the quality of Barcelona forward Neymar, but thinks the 24-year-old lacks the maturity to be the captain of the national team.
Another issue addressed by Zagallo was the Brazilian defense, as he thinks the national team would be better with Thiago Silva and Marcelo over David Luiz and Filipe Luís. Zagallo told Extra: “I like Neymar a lot. He is an exceptional player, he"s got everything it takes to go on even further, but he needs to develop an awareness that he"s leading the Brazilian national team. He can"t step out of line. He"s not as mature as he should be."
He added: “I"m not a big fan of David Luiz, but Thiago Silva is the best [defender] in the world. Why he"s left out I do not know, it"s a problem of them, and I don"t want to go into that here. For example, Marcelo, who is also not playing. For me, he should be the starter on the left side, but the coaching staff has their own way of seeing things. The team would be better with Thiago and Marcelo."
