TERESOPOLIS, July 10 (AFP): Brazil�s injured striker Neymar will attend Saturday�s third place play-off when the battered World Cup hosts take on the Netherlands.
Brazil were consigned to the ignominy of fighting out a game Dutch coach Louis van Gaal has attacked as �unfair� after their 7-1 semi-final mauling by Germany.
Neymar�s absence dominated the build-up to Tuesday�s humiliation. The Barcelona striker missed out after fracturing a vertebrae in the quarter-final win over Colombia.
�Neymar will come here (to Brazil�s World Cup base), he�s going to accompany the team to Saturday�s match,� confirmed Brazil football federation spokesman Rodrigo Paiva to R7.com. Paiva announced the news at Brazil�s World Cup headquarters in Teresopolis, near Rio de Janeiro.
The Barcelona superstar�s absence and as importantly that of suspended defender and captain Thiago Silva contributed to Tuesday�s shocking Belo Horizonte battering by a Germany side that now faces Argentina in Sunday�s final.
Van Gaal�s Holland find themselves in the play-off after Wednesday�s 4-2 penalty shoot-out loss to Argentina.
Afterwards van Gaal attacked the play-off, saying: �I think this match should never be played.
�It�s unfair also because we have one less day to recover, so that�s not fair play but the worst thing is that chances are you lose twice in a row.�
