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Injuries raise doubts about Brazil's World Cup preparations

SOCHI, Russia (AP) - Brazil is going out of its way to defend its World Cup preparations and show its players' injuries can't be blamed on excessive training.

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Injuries raise doubts about Brazil's World Cup preparations

Doctors will blame a soft mattress for an injury before admitting they made mistakes getting the players ready for the tournament in Russia.

Questions were raised after Renato Augusto, Danilo, Douglas Costa and Marcelo all got hit by injuries before and during the World Cup.

Augusto himself was the first to put the team's preparations under the spotlight after he said an inflammation on his left knee was caused by the amount of training he was subjected to when he reported to the national team.