Neymar's Uncertain Role as Brazil Plays It Safe in World Cup
Brazil’s record goalscorer is back on the training pitch, but still nowhere near the team sheet.
Neymar, now 34 and sitting on 79 international goals, rejoined full training with the squad in the United States this week after a right calf injury. Yet he has been ruled out again, this time for Brazil’s second World Cup group match against Haiti on Friday, after already missing the opening 1-1 draw with Morocco.
Carlo Ancelotti is not budging. The Brazil coach has opted to leave his most famous forward out of the matchday squad, wary of gambling with a player who has barely featured in 2026.
Diagnosed in late May with a calf problem, the former Barcelona and Paris Saint Germain star has managed only half of Santos’ games this year, his calendar shredded by one fitness setback after another. Brazilian media report that Ancelotti and his staff fear rushing him back now could cost them later in the tournament. For a side built to go deep, that is a risk they are unwilling to take.
Neymar has not played for Brazil since October 2023. His inclusion in this World Cup squad raised eyebrows across the country, not because of his pedigree, but because of his body. Three previous World Cup campaigns have revolved around him; this one has started without him even lacing up in a competitive minute.
He did at least pull on a training bib on Wednesday, joining his teammates for the first time since arriving in the United States. The images were reassuring. The medical reports, less so. Match fitness is another step entirely, and Brazil’s staff are clearly drawing a firm line.
Outside the camp, the debate around Neymar has taken on a more playful tone.
“Neymar? He is not even playing!” Brazil’s president Lula quipped to a young boy who mentioned the forward’s name. The 80-year-old, speaking during a ceremony at a hospital in Belo Horizonte, could not resist another jab.
“Neymar is the first player to be called up to the national team who is working remotely,” Lula said, leaning into the joke that Brazil’s biggest star is, for now, a spectator with VIP access.
He has been in lively form since the draw with Morocco, even teasing on Wednesday that he was thinking of signing Lionel Messi to play for Brazil. The line drew laughs, but it also underlined a truth: for once, the national team’s narrative is not orbiting entirely around Neymar.
Instead, Brazil move on to Haiti with their talisman in limbo, the coaching staff calculating minutes and muscle fibres as much as tactics. The group stage finale against Scotland in Miami on June 24 looms as the next realistic target, a date circled quietly inside the camp.
Whether Neymar arrives there as a weapon ready to be unleashed, or as the great absentee of another World Cup story, will shape far more than just Brazil’s team sheet.
