Saturday 5 July 2014

Hulk: We'll dedicate World Cup win to Neymar

Hulk: We'll dedicate World Cup win to Neymar
Hulk believes that Brazil can overcome the blow dealt to them by Neymar's injury, adding that it gives his side an "extra reason" to succeed.

The Selecao progressed to a World Cup semi-final with Germany after defeating Colombia on Saturday evening, with Thiago Silva and David Luiz both scoring in the 2-1 win, as los Cafeteros only managed a James Rodriguez penalty in response.

However, from a Brazilian perspective, the game was blighted by seeing Neymar stretchered off with a fractured vertebra after a clash with Juan Zuniga, and Hulk urged his teammates to secure the World Cup to ease his disappointment.



"It's sad, he took care of himself for this World Cup, and was very excited about it," the Zenit St. Petersburg attacker told reporters.

"Not to mention he's very important for the Selecao. We have to try and overcome this. Now we have an extra reason to give it all, for Neymar, for the guy he is. If God helps us, we'll be champions, so we can dedicate this title to him."

Hulk was among the Verde-Amarela players to concede the injury was a bitter blow to their apspirations, with Oscar admitting that the striker, who scored four times in the tournament prior to the Colombia game, would be a big loss.

"He's incredible not only in the pitch, but also off it," the Chelsea attacking midfielder added.

"We'll miss him, but whoever comes in will have to give its best. We can't be sad, we are in a World Cup semi-final. We played a great match today, and whoever comes in, we have to play collectively to try and beat Germany."

Fernandinho also echoed his teammates' sentiments, but stressed that they must continue to believe in their collective strength rather than individual talent when they face Germany in their semi-final on Tuesday in Belo Horizonte.

"Since the beginning, even if Neymar was shining bright, the group was the real "leading man"," he insisted.

"We played as a team, united, battling our way until the end at every match. This won't change now. Brazil's protagonist is the group."

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