Neymar injured, unlikely to be match for World Cup first sport

FILE- Brazil’s Neymar controls the ball throughout a World Cup qualifying soccer match towards Peru at Nationwide stadium in Lima, Peru, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. (AP Photograph/Martin Mejia, File)

RIO DE JANEIRO — Choosing injury-prone Neymar in Brazil’s World Cup squad appeared a danger and so it proved simply 10 days afterward Thursday.

The 34-year-old ahead has a calf harm and certain is not going to be match for Brazil’s opening sport towards Morocco, workforce physician Rodrigo Lasmar mentioned.

“The expectation is that he shall be sidelined from two to a few weeks,” Lasmar informed reporters.

Brazil performs Morocco on June 13 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, to begin a bunch that additionally contains Haiti and Scotland.

“Neymar arrived (Wednesday) on the Granja Comary,” Lasmar mentioned, referring to the workforce’s coaching base close to Rio de Janeiro, “did all medical exams, and was identified with a grade two calf harm.”

Neymar was chosen for his fourth World Cup in a 26-man squad by coach Carlo Ancelotti regardless of not taking part in for the nationwide workforce since October 2023 when he tore the cruciate ligament in his left knee in a World Cup qualifying sport towards Uruguay.

He has performed just some video games this season for Santos since getting back from Saudi Arabia on a free switch from Al-Hilal.

FIFA’s World Cup guidelines enable Neymar to get replaced by a June 1 deadline for Ancelotti to submit his last squad, or as much as in the future earlier than a workforce’s first sport on the event.