Neymar Returns to Training for Brazil After Injury Setback
Neymar’s boots finally touched grass again. For Brazil, that sight alone felt like a small victory.
After a month stuck between the treatment room and the gym with a right calf injury, the 34-year-old stepped out to the edge of the pitch at Brazil’s base in Morristown, New Jersey, on Tuesday, according to ESPN. No tricks, no trademark flicks. Just running drills on the touchline. But for a country clinging to the hope of one last great tournament from its idol, it was enough to stir belief.
The Brazil Football Confederation (CBF) framed it as a clear step forward, saying Neymar “took another step in his recovery process” with this latest session. Their footage showed the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain star moving under the close supervision of a member of Carlo Ancelotti’s coaching staff, testing that calf with his first runs since the injury.
This has been a carefully managed comeback from a Grade II muscle injury, picked up playing for Santos on May 17. Brazil named him in the final World Cup squad anyway, but he arrived in camp under a cloud of doubt, his fitness the dominant storyline before a ball had even been kicked.
Inside the camp, the plan is pragmatic. Brazilian media report that the medical team are working toward the long game: get Neymar right for the knockout rounds, even if it means sacrificing him in the group. That approach would effectively rule him out of the remaining Group C matches against Haiti and Scotland.
On Monday, Neymar underwent new medical tests to track how the muscle is healing, ESPN reported. The CBF has not yet released those results, a silence that underlines how delicate this stage of the recovery remains.
For now, his role is part-patient, part-leader. He watched from the bench, out of kit, during Brazil’s flat 1-1 draw with Morocco on Saturday, another reminder of how different this team looks when its main reference point is in street clothes rather than the No. 10 shirt.
Ancelotti, though, has nailed his colours to the mast.
“Neymar is working very hard to recover as soon as possible,” the Brazil head coach said before the Morocco game. “Our expectation is that he will recover and rejoin the group next week. When we included him in the roster, we added him for his technical abilities, which are indisputable. But we also want him for his experience and the example he sets for the young players on the team.”
That last line matters. This World Cup is not just another tournament for Neymar; it is a test of whether his body will let him be Neymar again.
He has not played for the senior national team since October 17, 2023, when an ACL and meniscus tear against Uruguay ripped up his plans and triggered yet another long, lonely stretch of rehab. Add in the calf problem and the stop-start nature of his club career, and the tally is stark: around 700 days lost to injuries and recovery cycles in recent years.
No wonder every stride on that training pitch is being watched and weighed.
It is expected he will again be a spectator when Brazil face Haiti on Friday, his influence limited to words in the dressing room and encouragement from the bench. For now, that is all he can offer.
The question hanging over this Brazil campaign is simple: will those tentative runs on the sideline in New Jersey turn into the full-blooded sprints of a knockout-stage Neymar, or will this World Cup pass with their greatest modern talent stuck on the periphery yet again?
