Neymar Returns to Training but Remains on Sidelines for Brazil

Neymar is back on the grass with Brazil. Just not back on the teamsheet.

The country’s record goalscorer, sitting on 79 international goals, rejoined full training with the squad at the World Cup in the United States this week after a right calf injury. His return, though, comes with a heavy dose of caution.

At 34, the forward missed Brazil’s opening 1-1 draw with Morocco and has again been left out by coach Carlo Ancelotti for the second group game against Haiti on Friday. Fit enough to train, not trusted enough – yet – to be thrown into a competitive World Cup match.

Ancelotti’s stance is clear: no risks, not with the knockout stages looming and Neymar’s body already battered by a string of fitness problems. Brazilian media report that the coaching staff fear rushing him back now could cost them later in the tournament.

That hasn’t stopped Neymar from dominating the conversation around the Seleção.

During a ceremony at a hospital in Belo Horizonte, 80-year-old Lula, in typically sharp form since the Morocco match, was asked about the star forward by a young boy. His reply cut straight through the national obsession.

“Neymar? He is not even playing!” he snapped back, before twisting the knife with a joke that has echoed around Brazil: Neymar, he said, is “the first player to be called up to the national team who is working remotely.”

Lula has been leaning into the humour all week. On Wednesday he quipped that he was thinking of signing Lionel Messi to play for Brazil, a line that underlines both his mischief and the country’s unease about relying on a player who has barely been on the pitch this year.

Neymar’s club season with Santos tells the story. Diagnosed in late May with a calf injury, he has featured in only half of their games in 2026, his year punctured by one physical setback after another. The surprise, for many, was not that he might miss the start of this World Cup, but that he was included in the squad at all.

He has not played for Brazil since October 2023. Yet he remains central to their identity on the world stage, the face of the last three World Cup campaigns and the man expected, again, to carry the creative burden when it matters most.

On Wednesday, he finally joined his teammates in full training for the first time at this tournament. The images will calm some nerves. They will not end the debate.

Ancelotti knows what he has: a generational talent, a dressing room reference point, and a player whose rhythm can tilt a World Cup. He also knows what he risks: one mistimed sprint, one overstretched calf, and Brazil’s most decisive weapon could be gone before the tournament really starts.

Brazil close their group stage against Scotland in Miami on June 24. That date now hangs over everything. Does Ancelotti hold Neymar back again, saving him for the knockouts? Or does he give his No. 10 a taste of real competition before the stakes spike?

For now, Neymar runs, passes, and finishes in training while the rest of Brazil waits. The World Cup has started without him. The question is whether it will truly ignite only when he finally steps over the white line.