{"id":245653,"date":"2026-05-28T20:24:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/28\/brazil-superstar-neymar-in-doubt-for-world-cup-opener-after-fresh-injury-setback\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T20:24:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:24:00","slug":"brazil-superstar-neymar-in-doubt-for-world-cup-opener-after-fresh-injury-setback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/28\/brazil-superstar-neymar-in-doubt-for-world-cup-opener-after-fresh-injury-setback\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazil superstar Neymar in doubt for World Cup opener after fresh injury setback"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Brazil forward Neymar is a doubt for the start of the World Cup after injuring his calf, requiring two to three weeks of treatment, the national team\u2019s doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old Santos star will miss Brazil\u2019s two pre-World Cup friendlies against Panama and Egypt, but may also be out of their tournament opener against Morocco on June 13.<\/p>\n

Get all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now ><\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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An MRI scan \u201cidentified a grade two muscle injury… our expectation is that he will be available in two to three weeks,\u201d Lasmar said at Brazil\u2019s pre-tournament training centre just outside Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n

Neymar joined his international teammates at the training centre on Wednesday but sat out the first session.<\/p>\n

He has missed Santos\u2019s last few matches due to what his club coach Cuca had called \u201ca slight injury\u201d.<\/p>\n

His inclusion in Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti\u2019s 26-man squad for the World Cup was something of a surprise as Neymar had not been picked for the national team in almost three years.<\/p>\n

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Brazil’s Neymar. Photo by EVARISTO SA \/ AFP<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A mixture of injuries and poor form had left him outside the national team set-up, with Ancelotti citing concerns over his fitness after leaving him out of Brazil\u2019s squad for March friendlies against France and Croatia.<\/p>\n

However, Neymar is Brazil\u2019s all-time leading goalscorer with 79 goals in 128 appearances for the Selecao. This will be his fourth World Cup.<\/p>\n

His last appearance for Brazil was in 2023 during a World Cup qualifier against Uruguay.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brazil forward Neymar is a doubt for the start of the World Cup after injuring his calf, requiring two to three weeks of treatment, the national team\u2019s doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said on Thursday. The 34-year-old Santos star will miss Brazil\u2019s two pre-World Cup friendlies against Panama and Egypt, but may also be out of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":245654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-245653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}