Neymar hopes for positive World Cup but Brazilians not excited: Survey

Neymar Jr admitted that five-time champions Brazil are dreaming of winning the World Cup 2018 again as they arrived in Russia.

All in all, Brazil have a great team - Thiago Silva, Marcelo, Marquinhos, David Luiz, Paulinho, Fernaninho, Fernando, Firmino, Coutinho, Neymar - looks like a World Cup winning squad to me if they have the right mentality.

Brazil have been outstanding during the World Cup friendly matches. Although the defence has been fragile that reminds me of Brazil's previous World Cup campaign when the team faced a tragic 7-1 defeat to Germany in the semi-finals.

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However, Brazil have improved its game plan and also the mid-fielders like Firmino, Coutinho, Fernandinho have been good in the recently concluded domestic games.

With lots of positives, why Brazilians are not excited not excited about the World Cup?

The trade group surveyed 18,000 people across Brazil, which suggests that there has been a drop in the craze which Brazilians used to have earlier.

Some 24 per cent of consumers plan to buy products over the next few weeks to celebrate the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, well below the 50.1 per cent who spent money on the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, according to the results of a survey released Monday by the Brazilian Business Confederation.

"In addition to there naturally being less enthusiasm among the people for a World Cup played abroad, the situation among consumers is less favorable in 2018 than it was four years ago," Brazilian Business Confederation economic unit chief Fabio Bentes said in a statement.

Brazil's economy contracted 3.5 per cent in 2015, the worst performance in 25 years, and another 3.5 per cent in 2016, marking the first time since 1931 that the gross domestic product (GDP) fell for two consecutive years.

Even though Brazil has started recovering from the severe recession, households are still struggling with low purchasing power and high unemployment, Bentes said.

The trade group, however, said it was still a good sign for businesses that one in four Brazilian consumers planned to spend money on products linked to the World Cup.

"Despite the fact that the country already put the recession behind it, the recovery in the economy and consumer spending continues to be slow and subject to fluctuations," Bentes said.

Some 51.6 percent of respondents said they planned to spend a maximum of 200 reais (about $52.60) on World Cup merchandise, while 39.2 per cent of respondents said they would spend up to 300 reais (some $78.90).