Neymar's Injury: Brazil's World Cup Dilemma
Neymar is back on the training pitch with Brazil. He is not, however, back in the team – and that tension now hangs over Brazil’s World Cup campaign in the United States.
The country’s record goalscorer, on 79 goals, only rejoined full training with the squad this week after a right calf injury that has stalked his season with Santos. At 34, with a body that has absorbed more punishment than most, every sprint and every touch is now weighed against the risk of losing him for the matches that really matter.
So when Brazil lined up for their opening 1-1 draw with Morocco, Neymar watched from the sidelines. On Friday, when they face Haiti in their second group game, he will do the same. Carlo Ancelotti has left him out again, a deliberate decision rather than a medical oversight, according to Brazilian reports. The message is clear: no shortcuts, no gambles.
That caution has not stopped the country talking. It rarely does with Neymar.
During a ceremony at a hospital in Belo Horizonte, an 80-year-old Lula was asked about the forward by a young boy. The president’s reply cut through the noise with typical mischief.
“Neymar? He is not even playing!” he shot back, before quipping that the forward was the first Brazil player to be “working remotely” for the national team.
Lula has been leaning into the national obsession since the Morocco draw, even joking on Wednesday that he was thinking of signing Lionel Messi to play for Brazil. It was a throwaway line, but it underlined the sense of uncertainty around a side that still looks over its shoulder for Neymar, even when he is not on the pitch.
The concern is rooted in hard numbers. Diagnosed in late May with a calf problem, Neymar has managed only half of Santos’ games this year, his calendar sliced up by a series of fitness issues. Those interruptions did not stop his name appearing on Ancelotti’s World Cup list, but they did spark debate. For some, his inclusion felt like a nod to history rather than form.
History, though, is hard to ignore. Neymar has been central to Brazil’s last three World Cup campaigns, the face of a generation and the man expected to turn tight games with a flash of invention. He has not played for his country since October 2023, yet the moment he stepped back into full training with his teammates on Wednesday, the cameras swung his way and the conversation shifted again.
Inside the camp, the mood is more pragmatic. Ancelotti and his staff, wary of aggravating the calf and losing Brazil’s all-time record scorer for the knockout rounds, are resisting the urge to rush him back. The group schedule gives them a sliver of room: after Haiti, Brazil finish against Scotland in Miami on June 24, a date that now feels like a possible, though not guaranteed, target for his return.
Until then, Brazil must learn to live without the player who has defined them for more than a decade. The attack has to find rhythm without its usual conductor. The dressing room has to generate belief without the familiar talisman tying it all together.
Neymar, for once, can only wait – training, recovering, listening to the jokes from Brasília and the debate from the streets – while a World Cup moves on without him, at least for now.
