The 30-year-old, who gave Brazil the lead
during extra time of their quarter-final in Doha with a brilliant individual
effort, was distraught after Croatia triumphed on penalties.
Speaking to reporters, his voice trembling
with emotion, he admitted he could not “100 percent guarantee” he would be seen
in the famous yellow shirt again.
Neymar, who has 124 Brazil caps, will be 34
by the time the next World Cup comes around in North America in 2026.
That is still younger than many leading
names in Qatar, from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to Luka Modric and
Olivier Giroud.
But Brazil’s brittle number 10 hinted last
year that he would not appear at another World Cup, suggesting in one interview
that he might not have the mental strength “to put up with even more football”.
Neymar has carried the hopes of a nation
into three World Cups since his emergence as a generational talent at Santos.
He has scored eight World Cup goals but the
tournament has exposed his vulnerable physique and fragile emotions.
In 2014, playing on home soil, he was cut
down in a quarter-final win over Colombia and stretchered off in agony with a
fractured bone in his back.
Without him Brazil capitulated, losing the
semi-final 7-1 to Germany.
Four years ago, Brazil’s build-up to the
tournament in Russia was dominated by his battle to recover from an operation
on a broken bone in his foot.
Level with Pele
He came back in time, but that World Cup
was still remembered for his tears in a win over Costa Rica before the Selecao
lost in the quarter-finals to Belgium.
This time he appeared to be in peak
physical shape as he arrived in Qatar, only to sprain an ankle in Brazil’s
first game, which forced him out of the next two matches.
He returned to score against South Korea in
the last 16 and then opened the scoring with a brilliant goal against Croatia,
equalling Pele’s record tally of 77 for Brazil in the process.
But while Pele won three World Cups, Neymar
looks like he will never achieve what “O Rei” (the King) managed, along with other
Brazilian greats who lifted the trophy, from Garrincha and Jairzinho to Romario
and Ronaldo.
“I am not closing any doors on the national
team but I am also not guaranteeing 100 percent that I will return,” he said on
Friday.
Neymar also missed Brazil’s 2019 Copa
America triumph due to injury, but his tears have not just come in a Brazil
shirt.
He cried after Paris Saint-Germain lost to
Bayern Munich in the 2020 Champions League final, and he has shown his distress
when suffering the injuries that have regularly interrupted his club career in
Paris.
Neymar left Barcelona in 2017 because he
wanted to win the Ballon d’Or, but he has still not managed to win that prize
and in Paris –- now reunited with Lionel Messi — he lives in the shadow of
Kylian Mbappe.
Bright future for Brazil? –
Even if Neymar decides to play on, with the
next Copa America set for 2024, a new cycle will begin for a Brazil side who
have gone out of the past five World Cups to European opposition, four times losing
in the quarter-finals.
“I don’t know what will happen with the
Brazil team going forward but now we can only lament what has happened,”
admitted Neymar.
They will certainly have a new coach, with
the 61-year-old Tite stepping down.
Skipper Thiago Silva, aged 38, and the
39-year-old Dani Alves will move on, while young stars such as Vinicius Junior
and Rodrygo will be asked to play an ever more important role.
“We are going to have players who have to
step up now, as leaders, but we have so many players who can lead the team and
set an example,” said goalkeeper Alisson Becker, who is eight months younger
than Neymar.
“We have young talents who are going to
improve even more, learn from this World Cup, and we have more experienced
players as well who can still contribute to the national team.
“Now it is difficult to speak about the
future because we have so much pain because of the moment, but hopefully the
future will be bright for us.”