Picking injury-prone Neymar in Brazil’s World Cup squad seemed like a risk and so it proved just 10 days later on Thursday.
The 34-year-old forward has a calf injury and will likely not be fit for Brazil’s opening game against Morocco, team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said.
“The expectation is that he will be sidelined from two to three weeks,” Lasmar told reporters.
Brazil plays Morocco on June 13 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, to start a group that also includes Haiti and Scotland.
“Neymar arrived [Wednesday] on the Granja Comary,” Lasmar mentioned, referring to the staff’s coaching base close to Rio de Janeiro, “did all medical assessments, and was recognized with a grade two calf damage.”
Neymar was chosen for his fourth World Cup in a 26-man squad by coach Carlo Ancelotti regardless of not enjoying for the nationwide staff since October 2023 when he tore the cruciate ligament in his left knee in a World Cup qualifying sport in opposition to Uruguay.
He has performed only a few video games this season for Santos since coming 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 remaining squad, or as much as in the future earlier than a staff’s first sport on the event.
Reporting by The Related Press.
