The injury that puts Neymar’s participation in the World Cup in doubt makes older fans relive a drama that marked the country in 1998. On the eve of the World Cup in France, Romário was cut due to an injury to that part of his body.
The announcement of the cut of the then Flamengo player was made on June 2, 1998 by the national team’s technical committee, led by the duo Zagallo and Zico.
The attacker had a disinsertion of the aponeurosis of the internal twin muscle, or, as it was explained at the time, the membrane that surrounded the player’s muscle came loose.
The internal twin is one of the three calf muscles. Romário began to complain of pain during training in France and left the Brazilian camp after the cut.
The exclusion outraged Baixinho, who said several times at the time that he could even be left out of the debut, but that he would be recovered to play from the second round onwards. He disputed the diagnosis made by a French doctor, who, according to him, had no experience with athletes. “Romário asked to stay, but was not answered. In his room, he called friends in Rio, stunned by his separation. Yesterday morning, he cried three times”, described a report from Sheet published on June 3, 1998.
Three weeks later, the striker normally participated in Flamengo’s collective training and would be selected for a friendly against Internacional, at the beginning of July.
Neymar’s case
This Thursday (28), doctor Rodrigo Lasmar, from the Brazilian team, stated that tests carried out by the Brazilian team’s medical department, in Teresópolis, showed a grade 2 injury in Neymar’s right ankle.
It is very difficult, therefore, for Neymar to be available to coach Carlo Ancelotti at the start of the World Cup. Experts interviewed by Folha say that there is a possibility that he will only be able to play at the end of June, already in the second phase of the World Cup.
“He [Neymar] performed yesterday here at Granja Comary. You took all the exams here, as well as the additional exams [em uma clínica de Teresópolis]with an MRI. A grade 2 calf injury was identified, not just edema. The player remains in treatment. The expectation is that he will be released within two to three weeks”, said Lasmar in this Thursday’s interview at Granja Comary, the Brazilian team’s concentration camp in Teresópolis.
Despite not having any of the reports in hand, orthopedist Maurício Leite, full member of the Brazilian Society of Orthopedics and Traumatology and the American Society of Orthopedic Surgeons, says he believes the injuries are similar.
“I don’t have image details to say what’s the same and what’s different, because I can’t see the graduation without this information. But an uninsertion [no caso do Romário] It’s a break close to the bone, but apparently they are similar injuries.”
Neymar’s situation generated a lot of discomfort among the directors of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) and the technical committee. It was clear to them that the player and also Santos were not honest regarding the injury, which occurred on the 17th, the day before the festive call-up of Brazil’s 26 athletes for the World Cup.
At the time, Neymar complained a lot when he was substituted in the black and white team’s 3-0 defeat to Coritiba, at the Neo-Química Arena, in São Paulo. There was a mistake on the sign displayed by the refereeing team, and number 10 ended up leaving, saying he was able to continue on the field.
In a statement this Thursday, Santos says that it sent all the tests to the CBF and that it trusts that Neymar will be ready for the World Cup.
