We are all now familiar with this picture. Marcelo screaming for help from the physios after being told by Neymar he can't feel his legs, having just been kneed in the back by a Colombian midfielder.
Both their faces say it all. And as Rohit Brijnath put it:
"Neymar da Silva Santos Junior is not to be confused with a footballer when in fact he is a Brazilian talisman. He is a man turned into a national charm. He is the equivalent of Lionel Messi and a version of Kiwi rugby star Richie McCaw. To appreciate what they mean is to consider a clever headline from India when their greatest cricketer was about to be turned into a comic book: "We don't need Superman - we have Tendulkar!"
The football talisman is more than a goal-scorer. In his presence lies reassurance, in his every move lies faith. He is saviour and magician. To play against him is apparently unnerving, to play alongside him is akin to wearing a protective amulet. Only the great are stalked by myths. Now, the talisman has fallen, and for Brazil it feels as if confidence has collapsed. If they rise from this to win the Cup it will be an escape so astonishing that even Harry Houdini might applaud...
At the 1980 Winter Olympics, with his unfancied US ice-hockey team about to confront the dominant Soviets, coach Herb Brooks countered stress with inspiration and told them: "You were born to be a player. You were meant to be here. This moment is yours."
This is what coaches do. Take adversity and spin it into a cause. Take misfortune and paint on a silver lining. Take Brazil's favourite tag and twist it slyly into underdog status. Take a nation's renewed passion and surf on it.... Perhaps Scolari will flirt with that theme and get Neymar to address the team - even via video link - before their semi-final. Lost skill, after all, can sometimes be compensated for by emotion: You play for yourself, team, nation and also Neymar.
One man's absence is also another man's chance. Widely summoned is the memory of the 1962 Cup, when Pele tore a thigh muscle and Amarildo took his place, scoring a goal in the final while setting up another. Yet that was a team of Garrincha and Vava, this of Fred and Jo. Still Scolari must stroke egos - you are great, you are the one - and out of Neymar's shadow someone must step up to become his nation's timely son.
As Brazil walk into the unknown, this is football at its most fascinating. And yet most tragic. The exceptional athlete can live with defeat; it is not being able to at least chase victory which is unbearable for Neymar. And also us."
Thus far, I have not bothered to wake up for the 4am matches; instead, for the weekend matches, I studiously avoid all forms of media when I wake up and head straight to the TV for the repeat telecast, which is as good as 'live' for me. But I think I will do so next morning. Even J is going to catch it with his friends, on a school night! We are grandly permitting it. He's 17 after all and at this age I was already living on my own here with a bunch of ASEAN scholars at a 4-room HDB flat in Jurong. In fact, we were watching the movie Grease (for the umpteenth time for me) when J lamented that his experience of school and now junior college is nothing like the rocking good times in Rydell High.
Actually he's been so busy in school, especially in secondary school, he's not kept up with watching professional football. The last time we watched the same match, in separate locations, was when our team, Manchester United won the Champions League for the third time back in 2008 (in Moscow, beating Roman Abrahamovic's Chelsea on penalties). Maybe there will be such dramatics tonight. That Germany is their opponent truly makes this a worthy contest for the Germans are always consistent big game tournament performers. As D said earlier tonight, "the head is with Germany but the heart is with Brazil". I am wearing the Brazil jersey we bought in Rio when we were there and and hoping they show fortitude under adversity.
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