Ah, so it appears the U-17 meninos in Chile now are coping well without Neymar. Well, at least that’s what their coach, Lucho Nizza (in the photo with Mr Braces himself above) said.

“Many great players are missing but we have to live with the reality. We’re playing in this tournament without Neymar. We are playing with a group of players who’re very good. It’s important and we must have patience. We hoped to get Neymar for a long time, but he was not released,” said Nizza.

On Brazil’s current performance at the Sub17, he said : “I’ll try to keep the balance in the team and avoid getting too relaxed. The boys who’re between 15 and 17 years old will feel some self-confidence after the victories.”

EARTHQUAKES

Of course it hasn’t been a smooth ride for the boys. Last Thursday, they were woken up in the middle of the night by an “earthquake” and the ground shaking beneath them.

Said Nizza : “I was in my room and felt the ground shaking. I asked myself, ‘Gee, do I have labyrinthitis or something?” I left the hall and everyone was scared that the building was shaking. There wasn’t a reason to be scared – after all you should keep calm when you’re on the 19th floor!”