Neymar began training on the pitch with the Brazil national team in the United States on June 16, marking his first physical work since injuring his right calf on May 17 during Santos' 3-0 defeat to Coritiba [1, 2, 3]. On June 17, he joined teammates briefly in limited drills but mostly focused on individual recovery exercises [4, 5, 6, 7]. Neymar, 34, will not travel or play in Brazil's Group C World Cup match against Haiti on June 19, choosing to continue rehabilitation at team facilities in New Jersey [8, 9, 10, 11].
The injury is part of a long string of setbacks that have kept Neymar off the Brazil pitch for nearly three years, including a left knee ACL and meniscus tear in October 2023, which sidelined him for around 700 days [1, 4, 10, 12, 7]. Despite this, he remains Brazil's all-time leading international scorer with 79 goals [10].
Brazil opened its World Cup campaign with a 1-1 draw against Morocco and faces Haiti next, with Neymar unlikely to feature in either group game [1, 4, 8, 5, 9, 10, 12, 7, 11]. Brazilian coaching staff have taken a cautious approach, aiming to avoid rushing Neymar’s return and hoping he will be ready for the knockout rounds [1, 4, 5, 3, 12, 7, 11]. Santos and Brazil head coach Carlo Ancelotti said, "Neymar is working very hard to recover as soon as possible. Our expectation is that he will recover and rejoin the group next week. When we included him in the roster, we added him for his technical abilities, which are indisputable. But we also want him for his experience and the example he sets for the young players on the team" [12].
During the June 17 training session, Neymar lightened the mood by jesting to media, "Did you miss me?" [6, 7, 11]. Brazil will next play Haiti on June 19 without Neymar, who remains in New Jersey continuing his rehabilitation [8, 9, 10, 11].
