NEYMAR’S NEVER ENDING HISTRIONICS RISK MAKING HIM HIS OWN WORST ENEMY
Striker often wastes good attacking chances by choosing to take a tumble instead and referees at the tournament are less likely to indulge him the same way Brazilian officials did when he was at Santos
As Brazil forward Neymar broke down and wept uncontrollably on the pitch at the end of his team’s hard-fought 2-0 win over Costa Rica on Friday, it was hard not to be moved by his reaction. For the second World Cup in a row, the 26-year-old is carrying the hopes of 200 million countrymen on his shoulders and his emotional outburst showed how much the win meant to him, and the level of pressure he is under.
Equally, it was just as hard not to be infuriated by his behaviour during the Group E match where Brazil had to wait until stoppage time before breaking down the stubborn Central American defence, with Neymar himself scoring the second goal.
Throughout the game, Neymar collapsed to the ground at the slightest contact from an opponent and complained constantly to referee Bjorn Kuipers.
At one point, the Dutch official made a “keep quiet” sign before he eventually lost patience and booked Neymar when the Brazilian threw the ball down in disgust at a yet another decision he did not agree with.
Minutes before the yellow card, Neymar thought he won a penalty when he fell over backwards theatrically after a slight touch from Giancarlo Gonzalez.
But, after an exemplary use of the video assistant referee (VAR) system, the referee decided that the contact did not merit Neymar’s tumble and changed his mind.
Exasperatingly, if Neymar had stayed on his feet, he might have had a clear shooting chance.
It is a trait that has marked his career, possibly influenced by an incident in 2010 when he was still playing in Brazilian club football with Santos.
After publicly remonstrating with coach Dorival Junior, who refused to allow him to take a penalty in a Brazilian championship match, Neymar was dropped from the team.
But, instead of backing the coach, the club fired him and the 18-year-old player was quickly reinstated.
Similarly, Neymar became used to Brazilian referees giving him a free kick for every minor contact and fall.
However, with World Cup officials less likely to indulge Neymar, there is a risk that he could become his own worst enemy.
He often wastes good attacking chances by choosing to take a tumble instead and, at a crucial stage during the second half, his behaviour had a contagious effect and his teammates became distracted by all the fuss he created.
Brazil’s previous two World Cup coaches, Dunga and Luiz Felipe Scolari, had a tendency to lead and encourage protests against referees but the current incumbent Tite is a much calmer presence and it is surprising he has not tried to curb Neymar’s excesses.
Neymar has shown how important the World Cup is to him and, to his credit, he never gave up on Friday, even when the ball refused to go in.
But Brazil’s last World Cup campaign ended with a collective mental blackout in their 7-1 semi-final defeat to Germany and there are already signs that their temperament could cost them again.
NEYMAR’S TEARS
Brazilians watched their team’s excruciatingly hard-fought win on Friday over minnows Costa Rica in a cold sweat but it was Neymar’s hot tears that really made the footballing-mad nation sit up.
“Neymar’s crying is the big news,” declared the Blog do Menon on the leading UOL Esporte website.
The world’s most expensive footballer had just scored the second of Brazil’s two extra-time goals, finally subduing Costa Rica’s stubborn resistance — and getting a monkey off the starstudded team’s back.
At the final whistle, the striker — described as a genius by his coach Tite and a petulant brat by his many detractors — sank to the turf, sobbing. Later, Neymar tweeted that “these were tears of joy, of having overcome.”
“It’s one of the big images of the World Cup: Neymar, alone, collapsed and in floods of tears,” the UOL esporte blog said.
“These were the tears of a football player. The tears of someone who cares.”
In this generous interpretation, Neymar’s 97th minute goal was the moment when the Paris Saint-Germain scoring machine finally got his groove — and the much-hyped Brazil team along with him.
But many asked if so much emotion after beating a supposedly far inferior team pointed to crackups to come?
“It’s not normal to cry in the second game of a World Cup,” Brazil’s biggest newspaper, O Globo, headlined the main article on its website after the drama.
While acknowledging that Neymar has had a torrid buildup to the tournament, with surgery for a broken foot bone and a hugely disappointing first game against Switzerland, Globo said the tears were just too much.
“A team needs to demonstrate mental strength, not fragility. Genuine or not, Neymar’s
crying is worrying,” Globo said instability or it was a return of Neymar’s nar- cissism that Neymar had managed to control so himself, telling critics “not everyone knows what I went through to get here. Talk is cheap, now it’s time to act.” well for nearly the whole match.” In his post-match tweet, Neymar defended “It was either the symptom of troubling “In my life, things have never been easy and won’t be now! The dream, no not the dream — the game around the country erupted in joy at While Brazilians at live screenings of the OBJECTIVE! — continues.” the of fall Neymar for his apparently over-theatrical in front of the Costa Rican goal — leading win, there was also withering criticism to a “His artistic gesture cost Brazil the penalty,” penalty being overturned on VAR analysis. Globo TV commentator Galvao Bueno said on air.
At least the under-pressure team can always count on Tite’s support.
The famously expressive coach celebrated so vigorously on the touchline after the first goal that he fell and rolled on the grass. A GIF of the tumble instantly shot around Brazilian social media, with cynics asking if Tite himself hadn’t been teaching Neymar how to dive.