Injured Neymar out of much-changed Brazil squad for friendlies

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazil left Neymar out of their squad for the November friendlies against Argentina and South Korea on Friday, but coach Tite called up uncapped Douglas Luiz of Aston Villa and Rodrygo of Real Madrid.

Neymar injured a hamstring in Brazil’s 1-1 draw with Nigeria on Oct. 13 and is expected to be out for four weeks.

Roma goalkeeper Daniel Fuzato and 20-year old Real Betis defender Emerson were also included in the Brazil squad for the first time.

Tite did not call up any home-based players to avoid conflicts with teams playing the final rounds of the Brazilian league.

Brazil face Argentina in Saudia Arabia on Nov. 15 and then head to Abu Dhabi to play South Korea four days later.

(Reporting by Andrew Downie, editing by Pritha Sarkar)