Brazil has recalled Santos forward Neymar for this month’s World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Argentina, marking his return to the national team after a year, the soccer federation announced yesterday.
The 33-year-old suffered a knee injury during Brazil’s qualifier against Uruguay in October 2023, which kept him sidelined and made his return to the squad challenging.
Following an underwhelming stint at Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal, Neymar returned to his boyhood club Santos in January, scoring three goals and providing three assists in seven matches, which has caught the eye of Brazil coach Dorival Junior.
When asked how much game time Neymar would be given in the World Cup qualifiers, Dorival told reporters: “It’s a situation to be analyzed. He’s already played 90 minutes in two matches for Santos.
“In some of those games, he was substituted in the final moments. His minutes in the games will decide the spell he’s going to have now, the way he’s going to perform here. We’ll analyze how he’s doing.”
Neymar has 128 caps and a record 79 goals for his country, surpassing Pele’s tally of 77.
He was part of Brazil’s gold medal-winning squad at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and also helped them finish runners-up to Argentina at the 2021 Copa America.
Brazil, who are fifth in the CONMEBOL table with 18 points from 12 games, host Colombia on March 21 and visit Argentina five days later in a match that could see Neymar come up against former Barcelona and Paris St Germain teammate Lionel Messi.
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