Mbappé v Neymar: Vitão opines

Neymar, 30 years old, was never the best in the world and, after the peak of his career, he never will be again. The player arrived at Barcelona (negotiated even before facing the team in the final of the 2011 World Cup, contrary to what, lyingly, he maintained for years) with the expectation that, over the years, he would receive the baton from Lionel Messi and assume the status of Barça’s main player and inherit the status of the best player in the world.

Due to the promising start at Santos and the undeniable talent, the projection was not a daydream of pachecos, dad, the pals or the hype gang of the fan club disguised as the media. So much was possible that Benzema, Lewandowski and Modric, with less quality and potential, reached the top….

Over time, however, it became evident that Neymar did not even come close to being the best in the world and, except for the discourse of part of the Brazilian fans and critics who live in a parallel universe, Neymar was never on the same shelf as Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Outside Brazil, in the rest of the world, this comparison is not even considered and Neymar does not enter into the same sentence when discussing who played more, the Portuguese or the Argentine.

Now, in his, perhaps, last World Cup, at least the last one in condition to make a difference, Neymar has the chance to try to match Mbappé. The French star, who, at the age of 19, in 2018, was world champion playing a lot of the ball and being decisive, with the right to score in the final, is already PSG’s main player with ease (ahead of Messi and Neymar) and, 23, walks to consecrate himself as a star and top scorer in the World Cup in Qatar….

Mbappé walks, but he is not yet. France is already in the quarterfinals… Neymar, who, in 2018, in his second World Cup, became a laughing stock because of the “cai-cai”, returns to Tite’s team with the obligation to lead Brazil and take him from round of 16 to the quarterfinals and then to the semifinal… And, at 30, if it’s decisive at the moment of truth, in the final, Neymar will write his name in history as one of the greats of the Brazilian team and of the World Cups…

In case of another failure, however, Neymar, who is no longer on the same shelf as Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, will not have his name in the history of the ball compared to Mbappé. The truth is that, aged 30, Neymar has done less than the 23-year-old Frenchman and, therefore, has no more time to lose: it’s now or never. While the Frenchman, who is already world champion and has already scored 9 goals in his second participation, will have at least two more Cups at a high level ahead of him in the post-Qatar.

Neymar knows: the time is now or never again: it is obvious that the number 10 (with all the off-field regrets and the natural antipathy that he generates in the democratic and civilized segment due to his support for the genocidal mismanagement that is coming to an end) is an ace and does The Brazilian team misses a lot. It is unimaginable to think of Brazil six times in Qatar without Neymar playing a decisive role. And, therefore, in the event of a new fiasco, it will not be possible to remove it from Neymar’s account. And, of course, for better or for worse, Tite, who in addition to having only four defenders still has to improvise one of them on the wing because he burned a name with the call-up of Grandpa Daniel Tantã Alves, who is not used even when Tite improvises on both sides.

Read the columns of the Qatar World Cup games

England 3-0 Senegal

France 3 x 1 Poland

Argentina 2 x 1 Australia

Netherlands 3 x 1 United States

Cameroon 1 x 0 Brazil

Poland 0 x 2 Argentina and Saudi Arabia 1 x 2 Mexico

Wales 0 x 3 England and Iran 0 x 1 United States

Netherlands 2 x 0 Qatar and Senegal 2 x 1 Ecuador

Portugal 2 x 0 Uruguay

Brazil 1 x 0 Switzerland

South Korea 2 v 3 Ghana

Serbia 3 x 3 Cameroon

Spain 1 x 1 Germany

Croatia 4 x 1 Canada

Belgium 0 x 2 Morocco

Japan 0-1 Costa Rica

Argentina 2 x 0 Mexico

France 2 x 1 Denmark

Poland 2 x 0 Saudi Arabia

Tunisia 0 x 1 Australia

England 0 x 0 United States

Netherlands 1 x 1 Ecuador

Qatar 1 v 3 Senegal

Wales 0-2 Iran

Brazil 2 x 0 Serbia

Portugal 3 x 2 Ghana

Uruguay 0 x 0 South Korea

Switzerland 1-0 Cameroon

Belgium 1-0 Canada

Spain 7-0 Costa Rica

Germany 1 vs 2 Japan

Croatia 0-0 Morocco

France 4 x 1 Australia

Mexico 0 x 0 Poland

Denmark 0-0 Tunisia

Argentina 1 x 2 Saudi Arabia

United States 1 v 1 Wales

Senegal 0 x 2 Netherlands

England 6 x 2 Iran

Qatar 0 x 2 Ecuador

I’m Vitor Guedes and I have a name to protect. And care, of course, comes from ZL! It’s us at UOL!

See too:

10 questions Tite didn’t answer because they weren’t asked

Gross and obvious errors in Tite’s call-up

Denmark is the perfect portrait of the failure of colonized Eurocentrism

Press conference in the Brazilian team is a waste of time

Daniel Alves is complete nonsense, but Tite has an obligation to cast him

Neymar and Danilo embezzlement increase Tite’s responsibility

Predictions for the 2nd round of the group stage

Thiago Silva as captain is a blunder

Shakira’s Eternal Waka Waka

Argentine embarrassment reiterates the importance of Tite climbing Vini Jr!

Basílio and Vitor Guedes predictions for the 1st round of the World Cup group stage

HERE the analysis of the England team made by Paulo Andrade, Bernardo Ramos, Rafael Oliveira, Rodrigo Coutinho and me.

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