Brazil Star Neymar Unlikely To Be Ready For World Cup Opener With Calf Injury

Picking injury-prone Neymar successful Brazil’s World Cup squad seemed similar a hazard and truthful it proved conscionable 10 days aboriginal connected Thursday.

The 34-year-old guardant has a calf wounded and volition apt not beryllium acceptable for Brazil’s opening crippled against Morocco, squad doc Rodrigo Lasmar said.

"The anticipation is that helium volition beryllium sidelined from 2 to 3 weeks," Lasmar told reporters.

Brazil plays Morocco connected June 13 successful East Rutherford, New Jersey, to commencement a radical that besides includes Haiti and Scotland.

"Neymar arrived [Wednesday] astatine the Granja Comary," Lasmar said, referring to the team's grooming basal adjacent Rio de Janeiro, "did each aesculapian tests, and was diagnosed with a people 2 calf injury."

Neymar was selected for his 4th World Cup successful a 26-man squad by manager Carlo Ancelotti contempt not playing for the nationalist squad since October 2023 erstwhile helium tore the cruciate ligament successful his near genu successful a World Cup qualifying crippled against Uruguay.

He has played conscionable a fewer games this play for Santos since returning from Saudi Arabia connected a escaped transportation from Al-Hilal.

FIFA’s World Cup rules let Neymar to beryllium replaced by a June 1 deadline for Ancelotti to taxable his last squad, oregon up to 1 time earlier a team’s archetypal crippled astatine the tournament.

Reporting by The Associated Press.