As far as international football highlights are concerned, it’s not compulsory to have a name beginning with R to be amongst the heroes of modern day Brazil – but it certainly helps!
Following the unforgettable vintage of Pele & co from 1958 which culminated in the 1970 World Champions to the ‘nearly men’ of 1982 and 86 when brilliance alone was not enough to recapture the world crown, the next generation was led by the R-team.
In 1994, Romario. From 98, Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos and, by the time the next World Cup had come around in 2002, it was added to by Ronaldinho – ok, Roberto Carlos is taking the ‘R’ concept a bit far but you get my drift.
World Cup success has not followed in the 20 years that have followed mind.
In fact, Brazil have never been close apart from in 2014 when their campaign was ended brutally and humiliatingly at home by Germany.
On that occasion their star man – the player a nation tipped to drive them to World Cup glory on home soil – was injured.
Yet even had he played, would the outcome have been any different?
For Brazil have rarely thrived during the Neymar era and, even though his record is impressive, he will not be truly considered one of the great Brazilians until he turns on the style on the world stage.
At club level, his star at Barcelona shone far greater than it ever has at Paris St German, the club he moved to in 2017 for a world record fee with the expectation of domestic and European success.
When he arrived, the Eiffel Tower was lit up in Neymar’s honour and the player promptly stated: ‘I came to Paris to be the best player in the world and to turn PSG into the best club in the world, which includes a Champions League trophy. We’re ready and fear no one.’
Five years on and it still hasn’t happened, while Neymar was among those booed last season in a Lique 1 match just days after their latest European woes were inflicted by eventual winners Real Madrid.
Can he now make up for that in 2022 by guiding Selecao to World Cup glory and secure his place as one of his country’s all-time favourite sons?
I am certainly not holding my breath, even though here is a player who will clearly, before too long, top the number of international football goals for his country.
Only a few weeks ago, he netted two penalties in a 5-1 friendly thrashing of South Korea which took him to 73 goals, a record second only to Pele (77), and ahead of such geniuses as Ronaldo (62) and Romario (56).
He is not regarded as highly as any of the three aforementioned though and that is unlikely to change without a World Cup.
Don’t get me wrong. Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior is a footballer who could retire now and still be regarded as having had a successful career with trophies galore.
For this is a young man who began his career with Brazilian giants Santos and established himself quickly, going onto amass 136 goals in 225 games.
He moved to Barcelona next and registered 105 goals in 186 matches across all competitions.
He has similarly been unstoppable for PSG and, even during a stop-start campaign last term, managed 13 goals in 22 Lique 1 matches.
While in the French capital, he became the first player to score 20 goals for two clubs in the Champions League and he also became Brazil’s all-time top scorer in the competition.
Yes, he is someone I have long considered petulant and a player who wins few friends for his antics, but he can be brilliant with the ball at this feet.
The SBOTOP international football betting odds will have Brazil among the favourites when the World Cup gets underway in Qatar in November.
And why wouldn’t they. After all, the South Americans recently leapfrogged Belgium as the number one team in the official FIFA rankings.
Yet Neymar – who was not involved when Brazil won the Copa America in 2019 – has plenty to do if he is to be remembered in the same way as his peers.
And while there is little doubt his prestige and dazzling ability will be enough to earn him one of the coveted forward places in the squad, he will need to show more consistency to avoid enduring a peripheral role at what will be his third World Cup finals.
In 2012, Pele said Neymar – then 20 – was a better player than Lionel Messi.
The statement was wrong then and it is still wrong today.
At the age of 30, Qatar is Neymar’s golden opportunity.
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