Matheus Cunha and Carlo Ancelotti slammed by former Brazil international
Brazil got the job done against Japan in the last 32 of the World Cup, but manager Carlo Ancelotti and some of his players have come under fire after the 2-1 win.
The five-time champions were in trouble on Monday in Texas after Kaishu Sano scored the opener for Japan on 29 minutes.
It was a poor performance in the first half from the favourites, but they did improve notably after the break.
Casemiro scored the equaliser as he headed home on 56 minutes, but the winner did not come until deep into injury time.
Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli came off the bench to score on 95 minutes and book his country a clash with Ivory Coast or Norway in the last 16.
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Brazil have not been particularly convincing as potential winners of the World Cup but are still alive and did deserve the win against Japan.
However, Craque Neto, who won 15 caps for Brazil from 1988-93 had some stern words for Ancelotti and some of his players.
Neto was particularly bemused over why Neymar was left on the bench as Brazil searched for a goal in the second half.
‘What a lie this is about Neymar, the coaching staff, the medical department. They’re messing around,’ Neto said in a social media video.
‘Against Japan? Not playing him? Put the guy in to play. When are you going to play Neymar? In the quarterfinals? In the semi-finals? In the final? What a joke.’
Then he took aim at certain players, starting with Manchester United forward Matheus Cunha.
‘Congratulations to Martinelli for the goal. Suffering is part of the game, that’s fine. But playing in a mediocre way, without positioning… if it weren’t for [Gabriel] Magalhães [assist], the equalising goal wouldn’t have happened.’
The Corinthians hero then returned to his point about Neymar and why Ancelotti has been reluctant to use the striker.
Ancelotti addressed why he didn’t use Neymar against Japan, saying he planned to if the game went into extra time or if Brazil had not equalised when they did.
‘I was expecting Neymar to come on in extra time,’ said the Italian. ‘I told him that if we hadn’t tied the game, he would have come on in the 60th or 65th minute.
‘We managed to tie the game, and I didn’t want to change the structure because the team had control of the game.’
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