World Cup Qualifier: Brazil to play without Neymar against Argentina
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Buenos Aires: The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has stated that its star player Neymar will miss his team's 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Argentina because of a leg muscle injury.
The 29-year-old was ruled out of Tuesday's (Wednesday, Nov 17 IST) clash in the central-western Argentine city of San Juan after feeling pain in the adductor area of his left thigh.
"Neymar Jr said he felt insecure about the situation and, as there is not enough time to carry out complementary exams, the technical committee decided to rest the player who will not travel with the team," a CBF statement read.
Meanwhile, Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni confirmed that Lionel Messi would play, playing down concerns about the 34-year-old's fitness. The Paris Saint-Germain forward made a 14-minute cameo appearance off the bench in Argentina's 1-0 win over Uruguay on November 12, having missed Paris Saint-Germain's last two games because of knee and hamstring problems.
"He was physically fit the other day and in the end, we decided that the best thing was for him to play a few minutes so that he could get a feel for it and he is confirmed to play against Brazil," Scaloni said.
Brazil heads the 10-team South American zone standings with 34 points from 12 matches, six points ahead of second-placed Argentina.
The Selecao secured their place at next year's World Cup in Qatar with a 1-0 win over Colombia in Sao Paulo on November 11.
The top four teams in the group will automatically qualify for football's showpiece tournament while the fifth-ranked side will advance to an inter-continental playoff.