Neymar turns 33 years old this Wednesday (5), day of his rehearsal in Santos, against Botafogo de Ribeirão Preto, for Paulistan. The party of his arrival at Vila Belmiro days ago was booming, grandiose, shown in the smallest detail by the press. It seemed even that Pelé had reborn to play at Santos.
It is the society of the spectacle, in which everything is exaggerated, much greater than reality, and where things do not look like what they are. Even more than Neymar’s contract with Santos is just a few months old.
There is almost a consensus that Neymar’s enormous talent is much larger than the individual and collective titles he won. There are several reasons for this. In the Brazilian team, Neymar never had the company of other stars of his technical level. He had several serious bruises and played at the same time as Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, two masterful and disciplined players. The two took turns in the best achievements in the world.
Neymar went to PSG to stop being supporting Messi. In addition, he, who was a masterful midfielder near the area, started playing in the national team and PSG as a more back and centralized sock, away from the goal.
In Santos and the national team, Neymar should be cast as a centralized sock, between midfield and center forward, in the position in which he throws a kid in the national team. At Barcelona, Raphinha is an striker on the left, a position held by Vinicius Junior in the Brazilian team. Probably Raphinha will go right, in place of Luiz Henrique.
I repeat, the players, from midfield to front, almost always play in clubs differently than they play in the national team. In Flamengo, Gerson is a midfielder who moves to the center to arm the plays. In the selection, it is a steering wheel, in the same position as La Cruz in Flamengo. Bruno Guimarães is a midfielder who advances a lot on Newcastle. In the selection it is a steering wheel near the defenders. Vini and Rodrygo vary much more at Real Madrid than in the national team.
If Dorival Júnior summons the right-back Wesley, from Flamengo, who has been playing a lot since last year, he will have no spaces to move forward, as Luiz Henrique or other tip throws open. In Flamengo, Gerson goes to the middle and leaves the corridor to Wesley.
Dorival Júnior must have liked to see Flamengo against Botafogo; Compact, marking by pressure to quickly recover the ball. The selection still leaves many spaces between the sectors and only uses pressure marking and advanced at a few times.
Santos coach Pedro Caixinha loves to score for pressure throughout the game. To work well, this marking has to be synchronized and performed by all players. Neymar never did this in his career. Box should not like the cliché that in football players play and run to the ace.
In fact, the evolution of this way of playing in the great teams coincides in time with Neymar’s career.
Neymar should plan his time until the next World Cup in June 2026, to recover his best physical and technical form. For this you will need a lot of training, discipline and concentration. It will be the great chance to become protagonist and world champion.
The story of the star is not over yet.
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