If Neymar lives up to what he said, this was his last World Cup. The Brazilian player even declared that he believed this edition would be his last World Cup because he doesn’t know if he will have the mental conditions to endure another dispute, four years from now.
He debuted with the national team in August 2010, and this World Cup was the third of his career. In 2026, when the World Cup will be played in three countries, Mexico, Canada and the United States, Neymar will be 34 years old.
“I think 2022 is my last World Cup. I see it as the last one because I don’t know if I will be more able, head on, to endure more football – said the playmaker, in an interview in October 2021, for the documentary Neymar Jr & The Line of Kings, available on the DAZN platform.
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After about a year, in November 2022, the attacker returned to the subject when asked by TV Globo. And he said he wasn’t sure about his farewell and explained how he would face the tournament in Qatar:
“I’ll play like it’s the last one. I talk to my father, we always talk, playing each game as if it were the last because you don’t know what will happen tomorrow. I can’t guarantee you that I’ll play another World Cup or that I’ll… I honestly don’t know. I’ll play like it’s the last one. Maybe I’ll play another one, maybe not. It depends… The coach will change, I don’t know if the coach will like me.
The player, however, endorsed the psychological and mental thesis. He stated that, if he does not continue in the selection, it will not be because of a physical issue.
– Physical? Not. It depends on how I’m going to be. It’s something I don’t want to say anything about right now. I want to play in this Cup, dedicate myself to it, because I’m sure we have the potential to go very far. Although a lot of people don’t trust us, we’re going to demonstrate what’s different. I see that this selection has a lot of fruit, a lot of good things, and I see that we can go a long way – declared Neymar, before the trip to Doha.
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Coach Tite, who has already said that he will not remain in charge of the Brazilian national team, believes that the player could play in another World Cup. In an interview with Arena SBT, in November, the coach gave his opinion on the subject:
— It’s not Neymar’s last World Cup. I tell you. I respect his statement a lot, but it’s not. He will have at least one more World Cup, maybe even two, because of his characteristics, because of his physique. I guarantee one.
In artillery with Pelé
Unlike the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, this time Neymar managed to overcome a physical problem in full competition. He suffered an ankle sprain right at the opening of the World Cup, when Brazil beat Serbia 2-0. Ten days later, he returned to the field and collaborated with the 4-1 defeat against South Korea, in the round of 16. final.
On that occasion, he scored his seventh goal in World Cups.
This Friday, Neymar scored a beautiful goal in the first half of extra time against Croatia and equaled Pelé as the top scorer of the Brazilian national team, with 77 goals (he also rose on the list of scorers in the country in the competition; with eight, he was behind only Ronaldo Fenômeno, who adds 15, and Pelé, with 12).
In 2014, in Brazil, after good performances, he ended up suffering a blow to the back from defensive midfielder Zuñiga, from Colombia, and suffered a fracture in his spine. Brazil passed their rivals in the quarterfinals, but in the semifinal, without Neymar, they lost 7-1 to Germany. The team was in fourth place and Neymar watched the rout from his home in Santos, where he was transferred by ambulance.
Four years later, before the Russian Cup, the player broke the fifth metatarsal of his right foot and arrived at the tournament in poor condition. At the time, the number 10 of the Brazilian national team and the most expensive player in world football, had the World Cup as a springboard bet to win the award for the best player in the world.
However, he left Russia, more than a week before the final, smaller (with a lackluster performance) and mocked. It’s just that Neymar became a joke on social networks around the world for the excess of foul simulations (a “Neymar Challenge” was even created, a joke that went viral around the world with videos of people throwing themselves to the ground and simulating fouls).
Since his debut in the national team in 2010, Neymar won the 2013 Confederations Cup, the gold medal at the Rio 2016 Games.
Neymar did not participate in winning the 2019 Copa América due to an injury and two years later he was runner-up in the continental selection tournament, after defeating Argentina, at Maracanã.
