How long will you insist on Neymar? – 10/15/2023 – Juca Kfouri

After the World Cup in Qatar, the rare reader read here that it would be good if in the next call-up of the Brazilian team the absence of Neymar filled a gap.

His fellow socialites in the media reacted: only a heretic, a madman, or a stupid person would give up the best feet among the country’s players.

It even made sense, because, in fact, how can you make a good team by giving up the only extraclass born in Patropi?

Candidately, the answer is: abdicating.

Because Neymar rarely played football for the team. He invariably played for himself, with the exception of the times in Barcelona because, there, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi wouldn’t let him.

That’s what we saw at PSG, and unfortunately for him, Mbappé even surpassed him individually.

At Santos, it’s true, he was still in such good shape physically that no punches could take him off his feet. And he came to Libertadores.

So grateful are the Santos fans that they forgive him for the unspeakable betrayal of having signed a contract with the Catalans before playing in the FIFA Club World Cup final.

As for the national team, he was never collective, and his greatest achievement was limited to the Olympic gold medal, in a team that was far from brilliant and that only won on penalties against the German C team.

When celebrating the title at Maracanã, you will remember, he made a rude statement, full of resentment.

Top scorer for the CBF team in official games, one of those self-deceptions that we, Brazilians, love to repeat, remember his performance in a decisive, hard-fought game, in which he shined.

It wasn’t his fault that he was excluded from the 2014 World Cup, he became a global meme in 2018, when he played more lying down than standing up, and in 2022 he could even have taken Brazil forward by scoring the goal against Croatia, but the stadium gods punish the arrogance, lack of education and individualism.

To think that Fernando Diniz would have the courage to stop him was pure naivety, because, if not even Tite, after the shame that Neymar suffered on the Russian pitch, decided to place him in Qatar, the interim has nothing more than to bow down.

Hence Neymar castrates eventual stars like Vinicius Junior.

He castrates emotionally and tactically, by clinging to the left side and by demanding, by his mere presence on the field, that the ball passes through him to try to dribble one, two, three, lose it and complain to the referee.

Master Tostāo must think what he reads here is absurd, if he is one of the rare readers because, full of reason, he watches over the stars.

What’s worse is that there’s nothing stopping Neymar from silencing his critics this Tuesday (17th) in Montevideo because, even though he’s fat, he’s capable of scoring a couple of goals like the stunning one against the Croatians, after trying about 20 times.

But having stayed until the end in what should have been mere training against Venezuela, and was a nightmare, diminishes the trust placed in Diniz by many people.

You can bet on a yellowish or reddish Neymar against the Uruguayans, who haven’t beaten the team since 2001. There are already 12 games, with a maximum of three draws.

It will be interesting to see who keeps the ball more, Loco Bielsa’s team or Diniz’s team, but the data will be irrelevant if he stays with Neymar for a long time just for the sake of it, without any objectivity or to find fouls far from the area.

Felipão committed the insanity of excluding Romário from the World Cup in 2002. This proved how productive madness can be.

Will Carlo Ancelotti have the same lucidity a year from now?

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