By Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian star Neymar lost his national team’s captaincy for the Copa America tournament to veteran Dani Alves, in another move suggesting the striker will be under heavy pressure to deliver the title of the South American tournament being held on home soil.
Brazil’s football confederation, CBF, said in a statement on Monday that 36-year-old defender Dani Alves, a close friend of Neymar’who plays with him at Paris Saint-Germain, will start wearing the captain’s armband in the friendly match against Qatar on June 5th in Brasília.
The Copa America will be played between June 14th and July 7th, and Brazil’s first match will be against Bolivia in São Paulo on opening day.
The 27-year-old Neymar has been captain of the national side since its elimination in the World Cup quarterfinals by Belgium.
In 2018, Brazil’s coach said he wanted to give more responsibilities to the striker, who is under criticism from Brazil fans since his unconvincing performances in Russia.
Tite’s decision comes after Neymar’s altercation with a fan at the French Cup final on April 27.
The striker apologized for the altercation after PSG lost on penalties to Rennes, but that was not enough to keep the armband. Brazil’s coach has since been under pressure to take away the captaincy from Neymar.
Neymar recently arrived at Brazil’s training ground in style, on his Airbus H-145 helicopter.
The aircraft, which is 13.64 meters long and 3.95 meters in height and has a cruising speed of 248 km/h. Its price tag is 13 million euros (US$14,5 million).
The Brazilian star’s helicopter is black with his initials written in white. Neymar also owns a US$14 million private plane which he uses for long-distance travel.