Neymar turns 32 years old today.
Back in 2009-2011, while still at Santos and on my 18-19 years old or so, if someone had told you by the time he is 32 years old, he will have no Copa America or World Cup for Brazil, few would believe it. And here we are, some 13.5 years after he started his career with the NT and despite overtaking Pele as the NT leading scorer, he only has an Olympic gold and a confederation cup to show for NT career. And as much as I like those two competitions and had played a major and decisive role in win it them, unfortunately they are not recognized.
So how did we get to this point? How could he have missed on winning even 1 out of the 6 Copa/WC he played in? Of course, injury played a major role in at least 2-3 of those. The other ones (2015 CA and 2018 WC) can be blamed on his distractions and theatrics.
Now, if you want to look at the positive side, you need to look no further than Messi, who needed close to 15 years (2006-2021) to finally win a tournament (2021 CA) when he was already 34 years old, followed by the WC at 25. Even worse for Messi, he finally won a tournament on his 10th attempt. Neymar is only at 6 so far, and 2 years younger than when Messi won his first. Not to mention, Neymar has missed at least two CA to injuries (if you count this coming one) as well as 2016 to focus on the Olympics (good bet!) whereas Messi has never missed a tournament (2024 CA will be his freaking 12th!!!!)
As much as some of you hate to hear this and this is not a post to call for Neymar to come back, his only chance to win a real tournament will likely be in 2026, when he will be 34 years old, likely playing off the bench as a supporting role. And how ironic would it be that he finally wins in a backup role, happens to be his last tournament and that happens to be the WC. That would erase all the disappointments from the past 13+ years.
Back in 2009-2011, while still at Santos and on my 18-19 years old or so, if someone had told you by the time he is 32 years old, he will have no Copa America or World Cup for Brazil, few would believe it. And here we are, some 13.5 years after he started his career with the NT and despite overtaking Pele as the NT leading scorer, he only has an Olympic gold and a confederation cup to show for NT career. And as much as I like those two competitions and had played a major and decisive role in win it them, unfortunately they are not recognized.
So how did we get to this point? How could he have missed on winning even 1 out of the 6 Copa/WC he played in? Of course, injury played a major role in at least 2-3 of those. The other ones (2015 CA and 2018 WC) can be blamed on his distractions and theatrics.
Now, if you want to look at the positive side, you need to look no further than Messi, who needed close to 15 years (2006-2021) to finally win a tournament (2021 CA) when he was already 34 years old, followed by the WC at 25. Even worse for Messi, he finally won a tournament on his 10th attempt. Neymar is only at 6 so far, and 2 years younger than when Messi won his first. Not to mention, Neymar has missed at least two CA to injuries (if you count this coming one) as well as 2016 to focus on the Olympics (good bet!) whereas Messi has never missed a tournament (2024 CA will be his freaking 12th!!!!)
As much as some of you hate to hear this and this is not a post to call for Neymar to come back, his only chance to win a real tournament will likely be in 2026, when he will be 34 years old, likely playing off the bench as a supporting role. And how ironic would it be that he finally wins in a backup role, happens to be his last tournament and that happens to be the WC. That would erase all the disappointments from the past 13+ years.
