March 17 – Neymar’s chances of playing at the World Cup are fading after the Santos star was left out of the Brazil squad by manager Carlos Ancelotti for the March friendlies.
On Monday, Ancelotti named his final squad before the finals for this month’s friendlies against France and Croatia in the United States and Santos’s number ten didn’t feature in the list of 26, signaling that Neymar’s dreams of playing in a fourth consecutive World Cup are hanging by a thread.
Ancelotti refused to rule out a recall, saying: “If he can arrive at the next World Cup at 100%, he can be at the World Cup. Why isn’t he on this list now? Because he’s not at 100%. We need players who are at 100% right now. But as I said, the final list will be different. Neymar has to keep working and playing, showing his qualities in good physical condition.”
The Italian attended the Brazilian league fixture Mirassol vs Santos to watch Neymar, who is Brazil’s all-time leading scorer with 79 goals.
Neymar has not played for the national team since October 2023 when he tore the ACL and meniscus in his left knee but returned from Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia to Santos, his boyhood club,
Ancelotti added: “Neymar is doing very well with the ball. For the coaching staff, and for me, he’s not at 100% of his potential. He needs to work to be at 100% of his potential. This is my opinion and that of the entire coaching staff who watch and will watch his games in the coming months.”
Neymar expressed his disappointment at not making the squad. He said: “I’m going to speak out here, because I can’t just let this pass. Obviously, I’m upset and sad not to have been selected. But the focus remains the same, day after day, training session after training session, match after match.
“We’ll achieve our goal. There’s still one final squad announcement to go and the dream lives on. That’s it, we’re in this together.”
The squad also included Endrick, who moved from Real Madrid to Lyon. Brentford’s Igor Thiago also earned his first call-up. He joins debutants Leo Pereira of Flamengo, Gabriel Sara of Galatasaray and Rayan of Bournemouth in the squad.
Brazil will open their World Cup campaign against Morocco on June 14 in New Jersey. They also face Scotland and Haiti in Group C.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, [email protected]