Neymar is expected to return from a right calf injury and be available for Brazil’s final World Cup group match against Scotland on Wednesday in Miami Gardens, Florida, giving Brazil a key piece back as it tries to finish Group C on top.
Carlo Ancelotti said Friday night that Neymar will be available, a notable turn after the forward missed Brazil’s first two games of the tournament. Brazil beat Haiti 3-0 on Friday, but the bigger news for the team was the possibility of getting its career scoring leader back at the right moment. Neymar has 79 goals in 129 international appearances, and his presence changes the shape of a squad that has moved through the opening matches without its most familiar scorer.
That return, though, comes with a catch. Neymar has not practiced in full sessions with Brazil since reporting to the squad while nursing the injury, and that leaves open the narrow but important difference between being available and being fully ready to start. He sustained the calf problem on May 17 while playing for Santos, had tests on his calf last Monday to check the progress, and has spent the tournament working back toward match fitness rather than simply waiting out the calendar.
Brazil does not need Neymar to make a symbolic appearance. It needs him because the final Group C match is the last chance to turn an expected return into a result that secures its place in the next round with less uncertainty. He is trying to play in his fourth World Cup, and there was already debate in Brazil over whether he should have been called up at all. That argument will not disappear just because Friday night brought a positive update.
The unanswered part is practical, not emotional: whether Ancelotti will start Neymar or hold him back as an option against Scotland. For now, Brazil has the better news, and one of the tournament’s biggest names is on track to be part of the closing act in Miami Gardens.
Elsewhere in the World Cup, the Netherlands led Sweden 2-0 early in the match in Houston after a sequence involving Brian Brobbey, Tijjani Reijnders and Cody Gakpo, while Mexico beat South Korea 1-0 in a result that drew celebrations from Brenda Jaimes and thousands of others in downtown Santa Ana on Thursday night. But for Brazil, the story now is simpler: Wednesday decides whether Neymar is merely back in the squad or back where Brazil needs him most.
