NEWS: Neymar Returns To World Cup Duty To Watch Brazil Vs The Netherlands Match

Brazil striker Neymar returns to World Cup duty on Saturday when he goes to watch his humiliated teammates take on the Netherlands for third place in the tournament.

The Brazilians and Dutch will be the uncomfortable warmup act for Sunday’s grand finale between Germany and Argentina at Rio de Janeiro’s historic Maracana Stadium.

Saturday’s match will be the end of a campaign that turned to disaster for the World Cup hosts. Neymar suffered a fractured vertebrae in the quarter-final against Colombia and will spend several more weeks on the sidelines.

Brazil, lost without Neymar and their suspended captain Thiago Silva, went on to collapse to a historic 7-1 defeat to Germany in the semi-final.

“We will have difficult days for the rest of our lives” because of the result, said Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

He said Brazil’s backroom team have since concentrated on a “psychological recuperation” of the players to get them ready to face the Dutch at the Garincha National Stadium in Brasilia at 2000 GMT.

Thiago Silva is expected to return to play, while Neymar will be in the stadium for the first time since getting a knee in the back that he at first feared would leave him “in a wheelchair” for life.

The Netherlands, meanwhile, are still drained by their penalty shoot-out defeat to Argentina and Dutch tactician Louis van Gaal will have his mind on moving to Manchester United for the new season.

Van Gaal at first said the third-place match should “never be played”, but he changed his version on Friday to say: “We are going to do everything to finish third.

“We want to leave the World Cup unbeaten, something a Dutch side has never achieved.”

Midfielder Leroy Fer, hurt in the group stage, is the only injury absentee for the Dutch, with the rest of the squad fit.

“I’ll use the players I think are mentally the strongest. The mind is stronger than the body,” van Gaal said.

Brazilian authorities are preparing their biggest ever security operation for Sunday’s final with nearly 25,800 police, soldiers and private security guards on duty in the city and at the Maracana stadium.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, whose country will host the 2018 World Cup finals, will join Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff at the Germany-Argentina match. About 100,000 Argentine fans are expected to invade the city, even though most do not have tickets.

“We have from today the biggest security operation that the city, the country, has ever seen,” said Rio state security secretary Jose Mariano Beltrame.

In a bid to avoid violence, bars around the Maracana stadium will be ordered to stop selling alcohol two hours before Sunday’s match. Police blockades around the stadium will go up Saturday night.

Germany will go into Sunday’s match as favourites after their 7-1 triumph against Brazil. But Argentine captain Lionel Messi, four time world player of the year, will be looking for his first World Cup title.

The teams have already played each other in two World Cup finals. Argentina, with Diego Maradona, beat West Germany 3-2 in 1986 in Mexico. West Germany took revenge with a 1-0 victory in the 1990 final in Italy!

NEWS: President Of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff Griefs About Neymar's Injury

The injury that has sidelined Brazilian forward, Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, is causing grief to President Dilma Rousseff and many Brazilians, and they are not hiding it.

President Rousseff had conveyed her feelings on the injury sustained by the Brazilian goal scorer, popularly known as Neymar or Neymar Jr, to the entire country via a letter released to the media.

She said: “It broke my heart and the heart of every Brazilian watching the pain on your face on the Castelão field.’’

It would be recalled that Neymar Jr got injured on Friday during the Brazil-Columbia quarter final match at which Brazil won 2-1.

The president adds: “But we also saw the immense strength of a great warrior, who will never let himself be held back even when wounded.

“A great warrior who briefly interrupts his march, having already left his insurmountable mark on the victorious battle our Seleção is fighting.

“I know that, like every Brazilian, you will never give up, and sooner than one can imagine, you will be back to fill our souls with joy and our history with triumph.

“May God give you strength and always protect you,’’ Rousseff was quoted as saying.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that that the star player was badly tackled from behind, which left him seriously wounded.

The injury has effectively ruled him out of the ongoing World Cup. The Brazilians are bound to miss their most outstanding player in the line up,

However, in spite of his absence, jersey with his name inscribed had continued to fetch millions into the coffers of Brazil Football Federation.

Neymar Jr., who plays for Spanish club FC Barcelona in La Liga, was born on Feb. 5, 1992, is on a salary: 8.8 million EUR and had since been flown into Sao Paulo for medical attention!

NEWS: Brazil In The World Cup Semi-Final Spot, Neymar Carried Off

David Silva’s screaming free kick gave Brazil a 2-1 win over Colombia on Friday to seal a World Cup semi-final place but the favourites saw Neymar stretchered off and captain Thiago Silva suspended for the next clash.

Silva bundled over a Neymar corner kick in the seventh minute to put his country ahead.

But he earned his second yellow card of the tournament in the second half for barging into Colombia goalkeeper David Ospina and will misss the semi-final against Germany next Tuesday.

Luiz stepped up to smash an unstoppable 30 metre free kick past Ospina in the 78th minute. But Neymar was carried off in agony late in the game after a rough challenge from Colombia defender Juan Camillo Zuniga.