Neymar is our greatest hope, says Ronaldo

Brazil Football Confederation officials were furious with Brazil star Neymar as he refused to meet with fans when they landed back after World Cup exit. Brazil lost their World Cup dream in a memorable quarter-final tie on Friday.

When the squad landed back in Rio de Janeiro's international airport on Sunday there was still a crowd of hundreds there to greet their heroes.  According to Spanish sports daily AS, Neymar opted to leave Tom Jobin Airport via the backdoor to avoid meeting supporters.

This incident caused outrage inside the corridors of power at the CBF, with the report claiming that officials are disappointed with the 26-year-old over his behaviour.

Even the media did not bother to cut Neymar any slack after the disappointing exit with Brazilian website UOL claiming that Neymar ‘destroyed his own image in Russia’. Criticism of the forward’s behaviour have come from many corners and while he always had people behind him due to his extravagant skill and youth, the World Cup exit has turned many against the Brazil star.

Members of Brazil’s national team were applauded by fans greeting their arrival at Rio. Supporters chanted and cheered the players on as they got off the airplane and appeared in the airport lounge.

Casemiro and Philippe Coutinho stopped to greet some of the supporters and also took pictures with them.

Brazil superstar Neymar brushed off his critics after firing the five-time World Cup winners to victory over Mexico on Monday and into a quarter-final showdown with Belgium.

Neymar scored one goal and created another as his increasingly impressive Brazil side overpowered the Mexicans 2-0 in sweltering conditions.

But Neymar's sparkling performance was tarnished by yet another example of his tendency to overreact to seemingly innocuous challenges.

The latest chapter in a bulging catalogue of histrionic behaviour came in the second half, when Mexico midfielder Miguel Layun appeared to step on his ankle as he lay prone.

Neymar writhed around and convulsed as if he had received an electric shock.

"I think it's a shame for football," Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio lamented afterwards, saying Neymar's antics had wasted precious time.

"We wasted a lot of time because of one single player ... we lost our style in the second half, because of the referee.

"This is a very bad example for the world and the world of football."

Russian fans danced in the streets of Kaliningrad on the Baltic and kissed strangers in Vladivostok in the Far East after their team defied all expectations to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.

In the Black Sea resort of Sochi, thousands of fans with Russian flags draped around their shoulders watched a giant screen transfixed and cars in central Moscow honked from dusk till dawn.

A mixture of disbelief and jubilation is gripping the host nation after their team pulled off one of the biggest World Cup upsets in recent memory, sending 2010 champions Spain packing after a penalty shootout decided their last-16 tie.

"It's great. Unbelievable. We are champions," 27-year old Muscovite Anna Glazkova said after Sunday's match. We believe we will now be in the final with Brazil."

The penalty shootout turned goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev into a national hero after a backs-to-the-wall performance in which they had just over a quarter of possession.

"What is there to hide, we were hoping for penalties," Akinfeev admitted to reporters.

It is the type of honesty that is endearing this rag-tag team of journeymen to a nation unused to celebrating its football team.

Russia is at heart an ice hockey country in which the beautiful game is played -- but not necessarily very well.

The chant often filling Russian stadiums during matches is "shai-bu!" -- the word for "hockey puck" -- a teasing reminder to the footballers that their hockey counterparts know how to score.

But the roar of the 80,000-crowd packed into Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium -- the same word echoing in bars and metro stations and shouted in Komsomolsk-on-Amur 6,000 kilometres (3,800 miles) to the east -- was "Ro-ssi-ya!" over and over again.

"Hurray!" Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev tweeted from the International Space Station after watching the match streamed live on a floating laptop.

"I always knew we could do it," a shaman from Siberia told the national Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

Brazilian superstar Neymar says he has no desire to be Brazil's all-time leading scorer despite being third in the Selecao's charts.

The 26-year-old returned from a three-month injury layoff in a friendly against Croatia on Sunday, when he opened the scoring with a sublime strike that took his tally for Brazil to 54, one behind Romario.

Only Ronaldo and Pele, who leads the charts with 77 strikes, lie in his path. However, speaking after that sumptuous strike off the crossbar had given Brazil a 2-0 win, Neymar said that records were unimportant.

"There is no fight to be Brazil's national team top scorer," Neymar was quoted as saying by FourFourTwo. "I think it's just numbers."

Neymar added that, in his eyes at least, he would never be better than the players he was competing with.

"They are my idols, those who were here before me, and when it comes to idols, I will never be better than them. So I respect each one of them, Romario, Zico, Ronaldo, Pele... because they are my idols. It's just numbers," Neymar said.

"I'm happy to help my team, to score goals, but I don't want to be better than them and neither will I be. Each one has their own history and knows their importance in the team. I'm very happy for the goals," the PSG frontman concluded.

Sweden's preparations for their World Cup clash against Germany have been hampered by a stomach bug that has prevented three players from travelling to Sochi, where Saturday's game will be played.

Coach Janne Andersson revealed that defenders Pontus Jansson and Filip Helander, along with midfielder Marcus Rohden, were left behind at the team's tournament base further up Russia's Black Sea coast in Gelendzhik to avoid any danger of the illness spreading.

However, the hope is that they will recover to come to Sochi in time for the match.

"We have split the squad. We didn't bring them on the flight because we didn't know what had made them feel a bit queasy, but they will travel tomorrow," Andersson said at a press conference at Sochi's Fisht Stadium on Friday.

Sweden's team doctor said in a statement on the official Swedish FA website that the trio were "on the mend".

Of the three, only Leeds United defender Jansson played in Sweden's opening 1-0 win over South Korea, and that was because Manchester United's Victor Lindelof was ill.

Lindelof has travelled to Sochi and could return against Germany but there is a doubt over striker Isaac Kiese Thelin, who has an ankle problem.

While Sweden, who qualified for the finals after ousting Italy in a play-off, come into the game in a strong position, Germany are on the brink of a full-blown crisis.

A defeat at the hands of Mexico in the first match of their trophy defence means they cannot afford another slip-up in Group F on Saturday.

"This is really what you spend your whole career and life working towards. It is an extraordinary opportunity to be involved in a World Cup match like this," said Andersson.

"Whether we knock out Germany is one thing, but we have a chance to qualify and that is extraordinary."