2026 World Cup: Neymar a doubt as Brazil hold its breath
A week ago, Santos’ medical team was playing it down. Neymar supposedly had nothing more than a calf issue, nothing serious, and was due to link up with the Brazil squad the following week. A minor scare, the kind you expect to blow over quickly, for a man supposedly heading into his final World Cup after three years out of the national side. That was seven days ago. Since then, the whole picture has shifted.
At Brazil’s first training session ahead of the tournament, Neymar was nowhere near his team-mates. The national team doctors sent him for an MRI at a private clinic. The results have not yet been officially announced, but according to Brazilian outlet Lance, the CBF is seriously worried. The site obtained images of Neymar leaving the clinic, and they did not exactly scream good news: he was limping slightly and had his head bowed. “People at the scene noticed the player’s disappointment shortly after his conversation with the doctors,” Lance reported.
A World Cup absence is now very much on the table. Globo says concern is spreading through Carlo Ancelotti’s staff and even reports a row between Santos and the CBF, with the Brazilian club accused of playing down the seriousness of the injury. Neymar is already ruled out of the two warm-up friendlies, against Panama on 31 May and Egypt on 7 June.
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The prospect of missing the World Cup hangs over Brazil
The question gripping Brazil is simple: will Neymar be there for the Auriverde’s opening game against Morocco on 14 June? Right now, nobody can say for sure. The scans will say what they say, but the player’s demeanour as he left the clinic, and the heavy silence from the CBF, do not exactly point to much optimism.
The timing makes it all the more painful. Neymar, 33, has not played for Brazil since 2023. His return to Santos had revived hopes that he might light up the biggest stage one last time. After years of stop-start injuries, this World Cup had looked like his last real shot at ending his international career on something memorable.
For Carlo Ancelotti and his staff, it is a brutal dilemma. Losing Neymar before the tournament even starts would strip Brazil of its most recognisable star and a powerful symbol for a nation that has not lifted the World Cup since 2002. The next few days will be decisive. The answer is coming soon.
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