Chelsea defender David Luiz, who is a first-team regular with Brazil, says that it is important for the national team to lift the World Cup when it is hosted in the summer by his country. The tournament will return to Brazil for the first time since 1950. Even though there are several problems surrounding the infrastructure and stadium development, Brazil are expected to host a successful World Cup. Being a football crazy nation, pressure is always high on the players to deliver results. It will be even more when it is a home tournament.
It is for this reason that Luiz says there can be no excuses. The 26-year-old comes into the tournament as one of the first choice defenders for Luiz Felipe Scolari. He has competition from Bayern Munich’s Dante, but Luiz has formed a great partnership with Thiago Silva in the centre of defence. After numerous troubles in the last few years, Scolari managed to get Brazil a trophy last year, as the nation lifted the confederations cup. Luiz was in full price of the former Chelsea boss, who has already guided Brazil to World Cup success in his previous spell.
Luiz says that the positive attitude of Scolari has managed to rub onto the players.
“We need to win the World Cup. I’m very excited. I think it will be a great World Cup for everyone, but for Brazilian people even more. They have been waiting for this for more than 50 years, so I’m very excited for my generation. There is a lot of pressure on us, we’re working very hard and we have a great opportunity because we’re playing at home. There will be more pressure on us than the other countries,” said Luiz. Brazil open the tournament with a match against Croatia on 13 June.