iously bounce or keep low because the cracks had widened. It was always never going to be a cakewalk for us. I thought we di

SAO PAULO -- The last time Neymar faced Colombia, he was sent off and went on a rant that led to a four-match suspension. The time before, he left the field on a stretcher with an injury that ended his World Cup at home.Neymar has no fond memories of those recent matches with the senior team. Now he hopes for better luck in the Olympics when Brazil and Colombia meet in the quarterfinals Saturday.A loss at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo would mean another huge disappointment for the Brazilian star, who arrived at the Rio Games with the responsibility of leading the nation to its first gold medal in soccer.A good performance by Neymar is critical. To that end, he rested during Fridays practice because of a right ankle injury.We need him to be ready to play on Saturday, coach Rogerio Micale said.Neymar was provoked by opponents in the last two games against Colombia. He was ejected in the 1-0 loss in the group stage of the Copa America last year, eventually being suspended after confronting the referee in the tunnel to the locker rooms.At the World Cup, Neymar kept his cool during most of the match, but broke a bone on his back after being hit from behind in the final minutes. Brazil won 2-1 but Neymars tournament was over and the hosts eventually were eliminated in the infamous 7-1 loss to Germany in the semifinals.This is all part of the past, Micale said. Its a different moment. Im not worried about provocations. Neymar is provoked anywhere he plays, because of his quality. Players try to get to him, but he is used to that by now. He has matured and is well-prepared.Neymar struggled in the first two games at the Rio Games, when Brazil was held to scoreless draws by South Africa and Iraq. But he played well along with the rest of the team in the 4-0 win against Denmark on Wednesday, a result that prevented the hosts from another embarrassing elimination at home.The mentality wont change after this previous match, he said. Well give everything we have to help Brazil win the match and advance.Colombia made the quarterfinals by defeating title-favorite Nigeria 2-0 on Wednesday. It is relying on veteran striker Teo Gutierrez, who also played with the senior squad the last two times the teams met. He already has two goals at the Olympic tournament.We will be playing against a very good team, Micale said. We will need to be focused from the start to be able to play well against them and advance.---Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/tales-azzoni Minnesota Twins Store . 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Aditya Tare, the Mumbai captain, lauded birthday boy Abhishek Nayars counterattack that helped the defending champions scrape home by two wickets in a low-scoring thriller against Tamil Nadu in their Ranji Trophy opener in Lahli.Set a target of 97, Nayar came in at the fall of the third wicket on 24 and then watched the side slide to 35 for 5. He then conjured a fighting unbeaten 56-ball 45 with the tail to see Mumbai through on what Tare described a tricky wicket.One person you can bank on during crisis is Abhishek Nayar, Tare told ESPNcricinfo. He is a specialist when it comes to playing under pressure and hes done it a lot of times in the past. The wicket had already started to deteriorate. It would viciously bounce or keep low because the cracks had widened. It was always never going to be a cakewalk for us. I thought we did pretty well to hold our nerves.While there were inevitable comparisons to Mumbais one-wicket heist against Tamil Nadu last season, both Tare and Nayar said that game hadnt crossed their minds during the chase.Nayar, who turned 33, revealed he was promoted - he had batted at No.7 in the first innings - to counter Rahil Shahs left-arm spin. Chandu sir [coach Chandrakant Pandit] sent me up the order because their left-arm spinner, Rahil [Shah], was bowling really well, Nayar explained. So, they sent me to try and get him out of the attack and get some runs flowing. The mindset was that I have to play aggressively and take them on.Nayar was appreciative of No. 9 batsman Balwinder Singh Sandhu, who contributed 12 runs to their 30-run stand for the eighth wicket. I expected five-six runs from each one of them and if they could collectively get 10, I could get the remaining 40, he said. But with Sandhu prised out by Aswin Crist with Mumbai needing seven, Nayar decided to take a chance against debutant seamer K Vignesh, who had a memorable debut, picking up nine wickets.The move worked as Nayar smashed a six off the first ball withh a pick-up shot to level the scores before hitting the winning run two balls later.dddddddddddd I wasnt sure whether or not we will be able to sustain for one more over because the ball was doing quite a bit and they were bowling well, he said. So, I decided to take a chance in the first ball of the over. Because I knew what he was bowling to me - he was bowling that to me for quite a while - I set myself up for that. I just gave it a full throttle, hoping that even if I didnt time it, the ball would still go out of the ground.While scoring was difficult, Nayar also credited Tamil Nadu for their accuracy. It was basically a very green pitch. Initially, there was a very thick covering of grass that made it very tough for stroke-play. What made things more difficult was the outfield was super slow, so getting boundaries was not easy. In normal grounds where you get four runs, you get two for it. Later on, the cracks widened up on the pitch, so it was quite uneven.We ended up batting in the toughest session of the game - in the morning - when the ball did the most. With the new ball, I anticipated them to come in hard and they bowled really well, so kudos to them. Tare admitted it was nerve-wracking for him to watch the chase unfold.I was just sitting in the dressing room by myself with my pads on, with sweaty palms ball after ball, he said. I just cant stay out and rub my anxiety on to others. It is a sort of superstition and a way of hiding my nervousness also.He also singled out the will to win as a constant trait of any Mumbai team. In many situations, many teams would give up, or they wouldnt know how to win, but our history is such that there have been so many games which we have almost lost, but the Mumbai team has won it, he said. There is a lot of faith in one another and not giving up. Thats what we showed today. ' ' '