REAL MADRID
Brazilians return to Madrid with a severe case of jet lag
Casemiro, Vinicius and Militao travelled for over 24 hours on flights and covered over 20,000 kilometres during a 10-day international trip in Miami and California.
Vinicius, Casemiro and Militao are back in Madrid. After 10 days on international duty, they landed in Barajas on Thursday on a long haul flight of more than 11 hours from Los Angeles and part of their preparation for the game against Levante is getting over the effects of jetlag. They played Colombia in Miami and then travelled to California for the game against Peru, spending more than 24 hours on flight in less than a week.
"It's all wrong. It directly influences the performance and the health of the players. We were lucky because nobody got injured. It is inconceivable as to how a team at such a high level can have this kind of situation. The company that organised these friendlies is wrong," Tite said after the Peru loss. "I have my share of the blame because I am part of the Brazilian football federation and that's why I'm here in this position. We have to look after out best players and our team."
Tite not happy with Brazil's friendly logistics
When he referes to the "company who organised these friendlies", he is referring to the British company, Pitch, and also called out Brazil Global Tour who acquired the rights to exploit Brazilian games with the Saudi compant ISE. It was this agreement that was made between then president of the CBF, Ricardo Teixeira, through the intermediary Sandro Rosell and it was the same agreement that was under investigation in Spain that kept him in jail for 22 months. The contract was restructured in March and he had full control of the friendlies once he was cleared of the charges of laundering the comission but Pitch remained in control of all the logistics.
But Tite said he can't be concerned about what happened once the players returned to their clubs even if they are lacking proper recovery. "This is the reality that we live in and I have to think about Brazil's team, not in what will happen when they return to their clubs," he said after being forced to cancel two full days of training due to the internal flights.
Casemiro is the one with the most concerning situation. He played 160 minutes during the trip and Militao played 90 against Peru with Vinicius making his debut and playing 20 minutes. It is not an excuse Casemiro will be using though. "It's part of our profession and we have to deal with these difficulties. When the referee blew the final whistle, my head was in Levante," he said after the game on Tuesday.