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Neymar missed Brazil's first match at the 2026 FIFA World Cup due to injury.
It looks like that won't be the last opportunity to play that he misses out on.
The latest injury update suggests that Neymar may be out until the knockout rounds, at best.
Brazil's next match is on Friday night in Philadelphia against Haiti. Neymar isn't expected to play, according to ESPN, which suggests that the Brazilian staff wants to avoid any kind of setback that would definitively rule Neymar out of the whole World Cup.
MORE: Cape Verde pulls off one of craziest results in World Cup history
When is Neymar coming back?
The problem is that Neymar's injury already has his tournament at risk.
By not bringing him back to training, there's no way to know for sure when he might be available for Brazil.
Neymar hasn't trained since joining the Brazil team on May 27 due to his muscle injury. The training staff is being careful, but there's only so much tournament to be played.
MORE: Gianni Infantino's private jet is doing a lot of work
He was hurt on May 17 while playing for Santos, and his lack of return to team drills in training makes it hard to see him returning until the knockout stage of this tournament, at best.
Neymar, 32, was a controversial selection for the Brazilian squad due to his declining form and health issues, and that appears to already be rearing its ugly head as Brazil tries to navigate this tournament with one less player at its disposal.
More FIFA World Cup news:
- Japan fans clean up the stadium after World Cup games
- Spain makes a massive Lamine Yamal mistake
- Ref cams are making quite the fashion statement
- Lawrence, Kansas has fallen in love with the Algerian national team
- Cyle Larin proves all the cliches true for Canada
Billy Heyen
Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who spent his senior year following Jim Boeheim's basketball team around the country. His reporting work has also included extensive high school sports coverage at the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. Adventures in sports writing have also led to in-person coverage of the Buffalo Sabres, Cleveland Guardians, U.S. men's national soccer team and a variety of minor league baseball stories. When people ask if he's seen a movie, the answer is usually "No, I was probably watching sports." Even away from sports, his main hobby is running (much slower than any athlete in these pages).
Source: Sporting News
