On Sunday (15), Neymar faced Corinthians at home, with the support of his fans. After 99 minutes, he had finished twice, both times out. On the opposing field, he made 20 passes and missed 7, a success rate of 65%, low even for a striker. He tried 3 dribbles and failed in all of them. He made 45 touches of the ball and lost it 21 times, an average of almost one loss for every two touches. He participated in 11 duels on the ground and lost 8.
Neymar had an assist, but you only need to see the play to know that the merits went to Corinthians defender Gabriel Paulista, who slipped and handed the ball, and Gabriel Barbosa, who took off 35 meters and finished. The “assistance” consisted of the ball hitting Neymar between Paulista’s delivery and Barbosa’s run.
On Monday (16), Carlo Ancelotti announced the team that will play against Croatia and France. There were new additions: Igor Thiago, current runner-up in the Premier League, Rayan, who in just seven matches in the most difficult league in the world has already won over the Bournemouth fans with goals, sprints and dribbling, and Gabriel Sara, who led Galatasaray to a victory against Liverpool.
But on all channels, the highlight was Neymar’s absence. At the press conference, Ancelotti had to explain again the obvious fact that Neymar was not called up because he is not fit. One YouTuber even complained that Ancelotti had not “communicated” with Neymar before going to see Santos play in Mirassol. How dare this foreigner not know that Neymar never plays during his sister’s birthday!
It’s a crazy circus. The lobby and the fan club are not concerned with presenting numbers or analyzes of any facts from the last three and a half years. They do not demonstrate any knowledge of the intensity and speed with which football is played at a high level today.
The same half-dozen clichés are repeated: “you can’t let a player of Neymar’s talent,” after all, he “can solve a game in a minute.” What on earth would Brazil do to keep the game competitive during the other 89 minutes if there are only two midfielders in the team and, therefore, the obligation for the four attackers to pressure the opponent’s ball is, obviously, a problem too complex for the lobby’s imagination.
The important thing is to show Neymar’s goals from ten years ago and conclude with the rhetorical question: how can Neymar be left out of a team that has players from “small” clubs like Newcastle and “lowland” leagues like the Saudi one?
Brazil has a long history of failures in World Cups because they didn’t realize that time had passed. In the run-up to 1966, it was common for city halls to require the presence of two-time champions in friendlies. Caught between the arriving generation and the veterans it refused to abandon, Brazil sent the tournament’s highest average age team to England, and saw its myth Garrincha, already out of form, being repeatedly disarmed by the Hungarians.
In 2006, the same Parreira who in 1994 had assembled an efficient and contemporary team at his time, was already an outdated coach. In 2014, the same Felipão who in 2002 had won the penta with merit, was already an outdated coach.
Imagining a hypothetical future based on images of football that no longer exists has never been a successful formula. Neymar was, without a doubt, a genius with the ball. He was.
