Neymar junior’s fourth World Cup is in jeopardy before a ball has been kicked.
A grade two calf injury will keep the Brazil forward out for two to three weeks. So he misses the pre-tournament friendlies against Panama and Egypt. Worse still, his place in the opener against Morocco on 13 June now looks under serious threat.
Neymar suffers huge World Cup injury blow for Brazil
Team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar delivered the verdict after an MRI scan in Teresópolis. The scan found a partial tear of the muscle fibres, not the swelling Santos had played down.
That diagnosis flatly contradicts the upbeat bulletin his club issued only days earlier. So at 34, Neymar now faces a frantic race to prove his fitness in time.
He had reported for international duty after picking up the problem in a league outing. Then he sat out Ancelotti’s first training session of the camp. It is the latest cruel twist in a career full of them. Neymar fractured a vertebra at the 2014 finals.
He damaged ankle ligaments four years ago in Qatar. Then a cruciate injury wrecked his last qualifying campaign.
Setback compounds Ancelotti’s pre-tournament headache
The blow lands on an already depleted squad. Arsenal pair Gabriel and Gabriel Martinelli have yet to link up with the group after Saturday’s Champions League final against PSG in Budapest, as has Marquinhos, the PSG captain on the other side of that tie. All three will miss the Panama friendly, which falls a day after the final.
Ancelotti, in his first major tournament since taking the Brazil job, had already drawn criticism for recalling Neymar — absent from the national side for nearly three years — ahead of in-form forwards such as Chelsea’s João Pedro.
The manager held firm, leaning on the experience and leadership of his captain. Brazil’s all-time leading scorer, with 79 goals in 128 caps, remains box office, whatever the doubts over his legs.
Brazil open Group C against Morocco at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on 13 June, with Haiti and Scotland to follow. Lasmar’s timeline makes the opener a long shot and points instead to the later group games as Neymar’s realistic route back. For now, Ancelotti’s staff can only wait.
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