Can Neymar lead Brazil to a World Cup win?

There were no big surprises in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers, as Brazil and Argentina clinched the first and second places respectively, without losing a single match in the 17 fixtures they have’ve through so far. The last fixture will have the two nations locking horns next September, but the result won’t change the outcome of the group at all and it’s going to be almost unpredictable as playing slots at parimatch.in/en/slots-european-roulette.

As expected, Neymar played a very important role throughout these qualifiers, scoring a total of 8 goals. The only player who scored more than the Brazilian superstar was Bolivia’s forward, Marcelo Moreno, who scored a total of 10 goals. If by any chance Neymar manages to score a brace or even a hat-trick against Argentina in the last game of the qualifiers, he’ll become the CONMEBOL qualifiers’ top scorer.

Nevertheless and with the qualification to the World Cup finals already secured since November of 2021 after beating Colombia by 1-0 in a qualifier hosted at São Paulo, all eyes are already on Qatar and on the challenges that lie ahead. The “Escrete” were draw in a dangerous group with Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon and even though they are seen as clear favorites to advance to the competition’s knockout stages, history tells us that underestimating their opponents in a major tournament like this usually leads to big disappointments and upsets.

At the age of 30, this could very well be Neymar’s last chance to shine at the World Cup stages. The PSG forward has tasted success at a club level, but he is yet to experience the same fate when playing for the Brazilian National Team. If he manages to lead Brazil to a World Cup title, he will definitely shut most of his critics and detractors, as this is a trophy Brazil has been chasing for the past 20 years (since 2002).

Winning the World Cup would also allow Neymar to get himself in a prime position to fight for the next Ballon d’Or, especially if he turns out to be the key player for Brazil. The Ballon d’Or has been a prize Neymar was never able to take home, but now that both Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are approaching their end as professional football players, this might be the right opportunity for Neymar to finally step up and claim an award that would certainy mean a lot to him…

When we look back to compare, we can safely say Neymar is now more mature as a player than he was before and he still has the magic in his boots that allow him to dribble anyone in front of him. He already scored 74 goals in 119 appearances for the Brazilian National Team and the numbers should increase with the amount of matches coming ahead in a World Cup year. In PSG, Neymar struggled during the season because of multiple injuries in key moments of the campaign, but he still helped the Parisien side to lift another Ligue 1 title and he did score a total of 13 goals in 28 appearances.

Sources: france24.com / fifa.com