Neymar a doubt for Brazil’s World Cup opener due to injury

Brazilian soccer player Neymar gives a news conference in Santos, Brazil, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

Brazil forward Neymar is a doubt for the start of the World Cup after injuring his calf, requiring two to three weeks of treatment, the national team’s doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said on Thursday.

The 34-year-old Santos star will miss Brazil’s two pre-World Cup friendlies against Panama and Egypt, but may also be out of their tournament opener against Morocco on June 13.

An MRI scan “identified a grade two muscle injury... our expectation is that he will be available in two to three weeks,” Lasmar said at Brazil’s pre-tournament training centre just outside Rio de Janeiro.

Neymar joined his international teammates at the training centre on Wednesday but sat out the first session.

He has missed Santos’s last few matches due to what his club coach Cuca had called “a slight injury”.

His inclusion in Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti’s 26-man squad for the World Cup was something of a surprise as Neymar had not been picked for the national team in almost three years.

A mixture of injuries and poor form had left him outside the national team set-up, with Ancelotti citing concerns over his fitness after leaving him out of Brazil’s squad for March friendlies against France and Croatia.

However, Neymar is Brazil’s all-time leading goalscorer with 79 goals in 128 appearances for the Selecao. This will be his fourth World Cup.

His last appearance for Brazil was in 2023 during a World Cup qualifier against Uruguay.