Neymar leaves dying legacy, with no World Cup on his shelves

When Neymar scored his first goal for Brazil way back in 2010 as an unseasoned but gifted 18-year-old, the world was a wee bit different. Instagram didn’t exist and Netflix Originals were not even an idea. As he expectedly signed off from international football — a broken man — after the Selecao’s inglorious exit from the FIFA World Cup last 16 in the early hours of Monday, 6 July, he has 231 million followers on social media — more than NASA, LeBron James or Katy Perry.

No, social media figures are no yardstick to measure the greatness of one of Brazil’s finest forwards ever, but they underline the duration of an injury-ravaged career, often overshadowed by the two reigning deities of the game around his time: Messi and Ronaldo. Controversial, injury-prone, notorious for ‘dives’ on the pitch, the 34-year-old comes across as a bit of an underachiever in comparison to the other two of modern football’s most recognisable troika, but it’s not quite the case.

True, he doesn’t have a World Cup winner’s medal in his cabinet, but to finish as the highest goal-getter for a country (80 goals from 129 matches) which has King Pelé in second place with 77 goals is enough for goosebumps. The next three positions are held by a certain Ronaldo (62), Romario (56) and Zico (48).

There was a time when one thought Careca would finally break the King’s record of 77, a task which then went to Romario or Ronaldo — men with nerves of steel in the 18-yard box. They were all extraordinary No. 9s before the term gained official acceptance, but the record was finally eclipsed by someone who was more a maker than taker of chances, too fragile for the rough-and-tumble jungle of international football.

“I tried, I tried. Now it’s over. I started here, I closed it here,” a tearful Neymar said as he called time with the famous yellow shirt but planned to continue with his club Santos for some more time. ‘Here’ was MetLife Stadium, the venue where Neymar made his senior Brazil debut in 2010 against the United States. Sixteen years later, at the same stadium, his World Cup dream ended with Brazil’s elimination at the hands of Norway.

Professional sport, as we know, does not always guarantee fairytale endings and the World Cup dream — in which Neymar’s campaigns have always been chequered — ended with a whimper. Making his World Cup debut as a 20-year-old at home in 2014, his run ended with a horrifying injury before Brazil’s infamous 7-1 semi-final collapse against Germany. Four years later in Russia, Brazil fell in the quarter-finals to Belgium while in Qatar 2022, Brazil were beaten on penalties by Croatia despite Neymar scoring a gem of an extra-time goal.

When Brazilians, for whom football and religion are often interchangeable, wake up the morning after yet another heartbreaking exit, they will be confronted with the bitter truth that one of the last flag-bearers of the joga bonito legacy is finally gone. The wait for the hexa (the sixth Cup) of the world’s most loved team has just got longer, the last one having come 24 years ago.  

“Thank you. This is a guy I would have paid to watch. Simple as that. We can talk about tactics. We can talk about whatever it’s but this guy could play anywhere, at any time, in any style,’’ French great Thierry Henry, a TV pundit with FOX Sports, said in a tribute. “He could have made anyone and he did make anyone, love the game with the way he was, his goals, his smile, the way he went about it and his skills. Anyone young wanted to be Neymar.’’

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish iconoclast, added: “He will be remembered as the great footballer that came over to Europe and before he came over to Europe, he was doing his thing in Brazil. When he was at Barcelona, he did well.’’

The new Brazil under Carlo Ancelotti, who is contract-bound until the next World Cup, is expected to be more about direct football, pressing with the likes of a Vinicius Jr holding the candle to a legacy of natural brilliance. This is where one will miss those magical dribbles, close control, and felicity with either feet. That’s the quintessential Neymar.