2026 World Cup: Ancelotti Still Can’t Count on Neymar—What Happened?

He is said to be visibly upset. Ancelotti, partly to appease a large portion of the fans, decided to call up Neymar for the World Cup. However, to date, he has never been able to count on the 34-year-old Brazilian star.

O Ney, called up by popular demand, is part of the Brazilian squad but, in reality, isn’t ready to play. It seemed that for the match against Haiti—which was already decisive for the group’s fate (following the Seleção’s opening-match draw), O Ney might be on the bench and, perhaps, play a few minutes.

Instead, the former Barcelona and PSG player didn’t even travel to Philadelphia, the site of the match against Haiti, but will remain in New Jersey to try to recover from the right calf injury that is ruining what will be his last World Cup.

At the moment, Neymar is working to recover from the injury but is not yet fit to play, and this is no small problem for coach Ancelotti, who had to leave someone else at home in order to call him up. Many are wondering if he’ll be able to play even a single minute in this World Cup.