Philippe Coutinho, the quiet master in Brazil’s World Cup high drama |

"No one does press conferences quite like Brazil, either. Tite spoke so long and so passionately that after a while you began to worry about the closure of the metro system and the gathering threat of dehydration.

he most striking part was his line on his overwrought star player, a moment to make those of us exasperated by Neymar’s antics stop and think a little. Neymar, Tite proclaimed, is just a human. He was incredibly stressed. He reacted that way because this means everything to him.

No doubt this World Cup also means a lot to the Costa Rica players Neymar repeatedly swore at and, so it seemed, tried to cheat. But nobody operates in quite such a steam‑cooked environment at modern tournaments."
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Philippe Coutinho, the quiet master in Brazil’s World Cup high drama | Barney Ronay | Football |