🔗 Share this article Brazil's Undisputed Star? Neymar's Global Tournament Race Against Time As Ousmane Dembele received the 2025 Ballon d'Or in late September, Neymar was undergoing therapy for his third injury of the year - simultaneously participating in an online poker tournament. The 33-year-old Brazilian ace eventually placed as second place, collecting around seventy-three thousand pounds in prize money. It was partial comfort on a day when he had to observe the player who previously succeeded him at Barcelona receive the award he had long hoped to win. After coming back to his youth team Santos in January, the experienced attacker has failed to live up to expectations, attracting more attention for comparable situations than for his football. His return home after 12 seasons away was meant to be a chance for him to rediscover his best and, most importantly, rekindle a love of football that seemed diminished after frustrating spells with Paris St-Germain and the Saudi club. Conversely, it has been generally unsatisfactory for each stakeholder. This reflects the situation that the key issue being asked right now in Brazil is if Neymar will participate in the upcoming global tournament. He's running out of time. "All players have to demonstrate that they are prepared. The clock is ticking [for him]," 1970 World Cup-winner Tostao stated in his regular feature. On midweek, Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti announced his team selection for the upcoming games against Korea Republic and the Asian nation and, once again, Neymar was absent. "The Prince", as he was dubbed when received at Santos in a reference to the king Pele, is still awaiting his debut under Ancelotti, having been missing from the Selecao for 24 months. He continues to be an injury doubt for the November games, which, in the worst scenario, will leave him with only two exhibition games in March 2026 to prove himself to Ancelotti before the announcement of the definitive squad for the World Cup. "For 15 years, Neymar was Brazil's undisputed star, bearing huge responsibility on his own," former AC Milan and Roma legend Cafu stated. "But no one wins the World Cup alone. Putting all our expectations on him at the moment is difficult because he struggles to even play three games in a row." 'Omission based on skill level signals deeper issues' Not only has Neymar had repeated injury problems since his homecoming - he's been absent for nearly half of Santos' matches this season - but, when he was available for selection, he was a different to the player who during his zenith competed with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Of his several attacking returns so far, five have come against teams from lower tiers than Brazil's top flight - a scoring contribution against Agua Santa, followed by a goal and two assists versus Inter de Limeira, all in the regional competition. As Santos fight relegation in the top division, the playmaker no longer seems to be the game-changer he previously represented. Nevertheless, Ancelotti has maintained that the forward has sufficient months to show he is ready for the World Cup. "His objective must be to be ready in summer. It doesn't matter if he's in the squad in October, November or spring," the Italian told French media. Ancelotti stirred local controversy last month by reportedly trying to protect Neymar, stating the star had been omitted from the team over physical condition issues. But then Neymar himself contradicted this, saying he "was left out for tactical decisions; it has nothing to do with my physical condition." In terms of popular view, it undoubtedly worsened the situation for Neymar. "If the player we have pinned our dreams on to deliver the World Cup is excluded for technical reasons, obviously something isn't right," Cafu commented. Is a Ronaldo-style comeback possible for Neymar? Studies from a leading polling institute found that Brazilians are split over whether Neymar should be called up for his next global tournament. With his 79 goals, Neymar is Brazil's all-time top scorer, but he hasn't helped his case much with his conduct during matches either. He seems increased agitation than usual, having confronted fans multiple times in venues - it happened in successive games in July. The next month, the forward was emotional after Santos endured a six-goal loss at home by Vasco da Gama - the biggest loss of his professional life. When asked by a reporter about his physical state in a game aftermath discussion, he became frustrated: "Again with this, friend? I've answered this repeatedly already." The same kind of question has been directed at his parent representative Neymar Sr as well. "Neymar's plan was to spend five months at Santos. For what? To regain fitness. If Neymar managed to play, so be it," he earlier stated, causing displeasure among fans. There's continuing belief, however, that Neymar's peak years haven't ended and that he will be able to resurrect his form the same way striker Ronaldo "Phenomenon" did in the 2002 World Cup to overcome skepticism and physical setbacks to lead Brazil to the championship trophy. The former Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inter Milan legend notes comparisons. "He's a essential player for Brazil - there's nobody like Neymar," Ronaldo stated during a recent event with the forward in Sao Paulo. "It's an exaggeration from a minority who believe he's ignoring his physical recovery. Those who have been in football knows perfectly how difficult it is to recover from an setback and recover rhythm and confidence. He's moving forward." The Brazilian forward has a few decisive months ahead to demonstrate that he's not the heir who stepped away from greatness.