Brazil’s opening game against Serbia was meant to be a fiesta of football. The old saying goes that the World Cup hasn’t truly begun until those yellow shirts appear on the pitch for the first time, and when Tite named his starting XI, it was easy to understand the excitement around the pre-tournament favourites.
Neymar, Raphinha, Vinicius Jr and Richarlison all started as the boys from Brazil lit up the stage with some electric attacking football. Richarlison stole the show with an amazing brace, but the feel-good factor was burst as Neymar limped off, and a lump the size of a Lush bath bomb appeared on his ankle.
"Neymar and Danilo went through a MRI on Friday afternoon and we found ligament damage in the ankle of both of them," Brazil team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar announced.
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"It is important to be calm and evaluate day by day. The idea is to recover them for the rest of the competition."
As he winced on the bench, a nation held its breath. They’ve seen this all before of course, back in 2014 on home soil. That was their World Cup. It was Neymar’s World Cup. Unlike today, he was the one star name of a talented squad, and all the pressure was on his young shoulders to lead Brazil to their sixth success.
Then in their quarter-final match against Colombia he fractured his back in an aerial collision. Even ahead of the semi-final against Germany, Brazil struggled to cope without their talisman. They gripped onto a shirt bearing his name as they belted out an emotional national anthem that had most of the squad in tears. On reflection, their emotions were far too high and they were torn apart by the most ruthless German performance we have ever seen. The 7-1 on home soil is still one of the most shocking World Cup results of all time, and one that left Brazilian fans utterly heartbroken.
Parabéns equipe, primeiro passo dado…
Faltam 6 💙💚💛🇧🇷
Neymar watched from the sidelines that day, and eight years later there are fears that something similar could unfold in Qatar. He’s suffered several injuries to that right foot in recent years, tearing ligaments in his right ankle that caused him to miss the 2019 Copa America, and doing the same injury in 2021.
But this issue hasn’t caused too much concern for Brazil’s head coach Tite, who said they were "confident Neymar will continue playing in the World Cup,” adding that he "didn't see he was injured - the capacity he has to overcome it tricked even me".
It’s perhaps no surprise that Neymar got injured given he was fouled nine times, more than any other player at the World Cup in the first round of matches. But this time, Brazil need to keep their composure. They have more than enough to get out of the group without Neymar, having already disposed of Serbia, and should be able to ease him back in the knockout stages.
With Antony, Gabriel Martinelli, Rodrygo and Gabriel Jesus all waiting in the wings, Tite is hardly short of options. And the squad, with more experience in the form of Thiago Silva and Casemiro, will not react in the same emotional way.
This Brazil squad is good enough to win the World Cup, with or without Neymar. His absence won’t improve them, but they should be able to cope without him. For now. His return during the latter stages of the tournament could spur Brazil on to new heights.
