Brazil national team manager Carlo Ancelotti has revealed that superstar forward Neymar will still be unavailable for their second group game, as he is not up to full fitness.
Neymar’s inclusion in Ancelotti’s 26-man World Cup squad announcement on May 18th was a hot topic for debate in Brazil and worldwide.
Many Brazilians believed Ancelotti was contradicting himself when he repeatedly stated that he would only select players who were fully fit for the tournament.
He had mostly said this about Neymar himself, due to national and global clamour for one of the country’s greatest and most beloved players, to be granted one final hoorah on the world stage. And it seems Ancelotti buckled under the intense pressure of the fans, media and ex-players. The non-stop questions about Neymar in press conferences will do nothing to help, but add a headache.
While the forward did play a number of games in April and May, he arrived at Brazil’s training camp with a calf injury. The problem turned out to be more serious than the Brazilian hierarchy had anticipated, but they chose to let the situation play out.
Neymar made his most recent competitive appearance for Santos FC on May 17th, against Coritiba. During that match, he sustained a calf injury that has kept him out ever since.
He subsequently missed his last two club matches for Santos, a 2-2 draw against San Lorenzo in the Copa Sudamericana on May 20 and a 3-2 loss to Gremio in Brazil’s Serie A three days later, on May 23.
The latest reports indicate that he has returned to light training and could potentially be available for the final group stage match against Scotland on the 24th of June in Miami if his recovery progresses well.
The 34-year-old has missed his side’s pre-tournament friendlies as well as their opening 1-1 draw against Morocco on June 14th, but there was hope he could make it for the Haiti game on the weekend.
Brazil’s all-time leading goalscorer has been blighted by several injury problems in recent years including an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus rupture in his left knee in October 2023.
In the possible scenario that Neymar misses the Scotland game, Ancelotti will come under a huge amount of scrutiny for his selection, especially as he left out an in-form, fully fit João Pedro from his squad.Granted, Pedro has not had the best time playing for the national team – he has failed to score in any of his eight appearances for the Selecão – but he just came off a fantastic season for his club side Chelsea.
If taking Neymar was a calculated risk, it must have been based on the assumption that the Santos forward will have a significant impact in the knockout games.
A player with Neymar’s exceptional talent is always capable of producing a moment of brilliance, even when not at peak fitness. However, if he is unable to play in the group stage, the knockout stage may be equally uncertain.
This has the potential to turn into a public relations nightmare for Brazil. If Brazil’s World Cup is anything less than a success from this point, Neymar’s selection will be heavily scrutinized and dissected. Ancelotti will be hoping his bet pays off.
