The final preparation of the Brazilian team for the 2026 World Cup began this Wednesday (27). With the exception of Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães and Martinelli, involved in the decision of the European Champions League, the group presented itself for medical examinations and for a first training session at Granja Comary, in Teresópolis.
The activities were closed to the public and also to the press, but around the training center one topic dominated the discussions. The handful of curious fans and journalists, whose access was restricted to the neighboring Clube Comary, debated Neymar’s physical condition.
“Is he injured or not?” asked driver Cleison Santos, 29. “If he’s not, he has to play. With one leg, he plays more than half a dozen there,” replied clerk Edson Vacca, 37, before repeating the question. “But what then? Is the guy going to play or not? They’re already saying he’s going to be cut.”
A whole mystery surrounds the 34-year-old striker’s right calf. Because of what is being treated as an edema in the region, he was left out of Santos’ last three matches and fueled speculation about the extent of the problem.
“What’s a problem?”, joked Neymar, on Tuesday night (26), as he left Vila Belmiro. He was at the stadium to watch his team’s 3-0 victory over Deportivo Cuenca, in the Copa Sudamericana, and, surrounded by microphones, was asked about his calf. “It’s here, in one piece,” he replied.
Initial information from Santos, last week, indicated an edema – that is, an accumulation of fluid between the muscle fibers – of two millimeters. But, when asked about the topic, the black and white doctors pointed to a “confidentiality contract”. The CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) only stated that it was waiting for the athlete – and everyone else – for exams.
That’s what happened on Wednesday morning. Most of the players arrived from Rio de Janeiro by helicopter – Casemiro had arrived in advance and disembarked in Teresópolis on Tuesday – and all underwent medical evaluations at Granja Comary. In the afternoon, there was a training session in which Neymar did not participate.
“The player was referred to a clinic in the city to carry out additional tests”, the CBF said in an official note, fueling speculation that the two millimeters could be more than two millimeters. “No other information will be released until the end of the evaluations by the Brazilian team’s medical team.”
Without more precise official information, conflicting versions circulated. One of them pointed to a grade two muscle injury, not a two-millimeter edema, which would significantly change the recovery time. In this scenario, there would be a partial rupture of the muscle itself, with a recovery period almost always longer than one month.
The situation caused Romário to be remembered from the 1998 World Cup, precisely because of a calf injury. According to what Santos coach Cuca said on Tuesday night, this will not be the case now. “Neymar is improving day by day. He did all his treatment here. There should be a little bit left, and there he finishes the little bit that’s left,” he said.
The CBF bulletin, however, left doubts. The expectation is that there will be more concrete information on Thursday (28), when there will be a press conference, with no defined interviewee(s) yet. The training session scheduled for the afternoon will be open for 15 minutes to the press, which could offer new clues. For now, the discussion is about the supposed two millimeters.
