Tite handles the pressure of directing the favorites with the calm of an enlightened man, but there is an issue capable of taking him out of that kind of slight trance and depositing him fully in the emotion.
Pelé has been admitted to the Israelite Albert Einstein Hospital in São Paulo for a few days with a lung infection and undergoing chemotherapy for colon cancer, according to the latest medical report.
Brazil was this Sunday on the eve of its round of 16 match against South Korea (8:00 p.m., Movistar), and Tite was talking about Neymar, who is already training, the rest of the injured, the defeat against Cameroon, everything;
until they reminded him of what was happening to Pelé.
He changed his face: "I had to start there," he lamented.
“I am going to speak from the feeling.
Maybe he's the only person who made me nervous before I went to say hello.
I'm talking about emotion.
We were sitting in 2018 and they say to me: 'Go give Pelé a hug'.
I got up and trembled.
My hands were sweating, my heart rate went up, ”she recounted.
"Cheers, Pele.
I send you the love of all of us."
O Rei
's hospitalization
and some more alarming information about his condition have put the World Cup on guard, where football is advancing at its own pace, but where mythical messages have begun to appear everywhere.
One of the funds of the 974 stadium was covered on Friday before the Cameroon-Brazil game with a yellow shirt that read: "Pele, get well soon."
The next day, the same legend appeared in the illumination of the tower known as the Doha Torch, a 300-meter-tall building designed by Lebanese architect Hadi Simaan that stands next to Al Khalifa Stadium.
The façade of the skyscraper, which houses a hotel, sent its support for Pelé and later advertised Sauvage perfume.
He also illuminated the Corniche, Doha Bay, from the Commercial Bank façade.
The concern for Pelé, that background murmur in Qatar, also beats intermittently in the concentration of Brazil, ready to excite Tite, who had previously been used in the other uncertainty that occupies Brazilians these days.
Neymar left a week and a half ago from the first match, against Serbia, limping, tearful and with the right ankle of an inflatable doll.
He and Pelé have not only shared the Canarinha's 10 in the World Cups, but also an unfortunate collection of injuries.
After Eusebio's Portugal kicked him out of the World Cup in England in 1966, Pelé gave up: "I have the intention of not playing in the World Cups anymore, because I never have any luck," he said.
It took four years to convince him to enlist to regain the throne in Mexico in 1970.
Neymar is still here, and appeared with everyone in the last preparatory session for the round of 16 this afternoon.
He entered the grass of the Gran Hamad stadium last, when the rest had already been warming up for a few minutes, caressed the grass and joined the group in time to hear the call to prayer from the nearby mosques.
He touched the ball normally in the rondo, chased it when he fell into the middle, ran between metal dolls, and cones as if nothing had happened.
Nothing definitive in the 15 minutes of training that he allowed the Brazilian federation to see.
But if what was seen in that section is taken into account and what Tite explained three hours before is intersected, it would seem that the PSG footballer has no intention of missing out on the first round: “If he trains well today, he will play tomorrow.
He'll train this afternoon, and if he's okay, he'll play.
The other ten we don't know who they will be, ”he joked.
He also explained that if he plays he will do so as a starter;
he will not save it in case the duel lasts until extra time and penalties: "I prefer to use the best from the beginning."
Advantage for the greats
In the match against Cameroon, the plan was different.
He rested several principals, used the second unit and they lost, which provoked criticism, although Thiago Silva, one of the reserved players, defended the plan yesterday: "It was well thought out by the technical commission," he said.
“Those of us who don't play are physically very well.
Korea will be more tired, having only had two and a half days.
In that time you don't fully recover."
The Korean coach, the Portuguese Paulo Bento, agreed on the advantage of Tite's plan: “I don't remember watching games only 72 hours after the group stage.
I think it's something inhuman.
That's not fair.
We have to see it as a reality that FIFA intends to create fewer and fewer opportunities for those with the least conditions and more for those with the most conditions.
If it is already difficult to compete with a great team like Brazil, obviously in these conditions it will be more difficult.
But we will try, and we will not give up."
Tite, while feeding sentimental hope for Pelé, clings to the certainty of his plan against Cameroon: “We are better prepared for what has happened.
Those who didn't play are rested, those who played well have more confidence and those who didn't play well have the opportunity to improve."
And Neymar no longer lives in seclusion in the cabinet of physiotherapists.
Subscribe here
to our special newsletter about the World Cup in Qatar
