Neymar's Brazil World Cup hopes hit after poor Santos display
Neymar’s World Cup hopes with Brazil face uncertainty after a quiet performance for Santos against Corinthians ahead of Carlo Ancelotti naming his squad.
Neymar's road to the World Cup got much harder as he played poorly for Santos in a 1-1 home tie against rival Corinthians in a Brazilian league match on Sunday.Neymar played his last game before Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti names his team for two important friendly on Monday.With 79 goals, Neymar is Brazil's all-time leading scorer.Brazil's games against France and Croatia in the United States will be the last two games before Ancelotti picks his final World Cup roster in May. The World Cup runs from June 11 to July 19.Neymar, who is 34 years old, played well against Corinthians after missing a game that the Brazil coach went to.In the 19th minute of the game on Sunday at the Vila Belmiro Stadium, Memphis Depay scored the first goal for Corinthians. Four minutes later, Gabriel Barbosa tied the game.Neymar's finest chance in the game on Sunday was a header in the second half that just missed. The Santos striker had trouble dribbling and didn't fire at the goal.The club reported that two people from Brazil's soccer association were at the game in Santos.After the encounter in Santos, a sad Neymar told reporters, I want to go back to the national team and play in the World Cup, but that's not up to me. I will always cheer for Brazil, no matter where I am. Ancelotti has declared that he will only take players who are completely healthy to the tournament in the US, Mexico, and Canada. He has also said that some players don't need to be tested, which means that Neymar still has a chance of reaching the final team even if he isn't named for the next two friendlies.In October 2023, Neymar hurt his ACL and had to have another knee surgery in December. He has only featured in less than 10 games for Santos this year, but he has also shown signs of what he could still do for Brazil.He scored twice in a 2-1 win over Vasco da Gama in the Brazilian league in February, which put him in the top 10 of Santos club's all-time leading scorers.Fans of Neymar are worried that his choice to skip a match against Mirassol on Tuesday, which was another game in the Brazilian league, would have kept him from playing in his fourth straight World Cup.Reports from local news outlets indicated that Ancelotti didn't find out that the striker wasn't going to play until a few hours before the game at the 19,000-seat José Maria de Campos Maia Stadium.
