Neymar isn't losing sleep over the criticism. "Today the day started with training and then a trip to the cinema with them. Oh, there was also a little bit of poker on the cell phone" — laughing emoji included. Sharp, self-aware, and designed to annoy exactly the people it did.
The post went viral almost instantly after he was spotted playing online poker during a weekend he sat out for Santos. Half the internet found it funny. The other half found it confirming something they already believed.
Both reactions are missing the actual point.
The poker is noise — the physical state is the story
Whether Neymar plays cards on his phone during an afternoon off is irrelevant. What matters is that since his serious ligament injury in 2023, he has barely managed to string matches together. He returned to Santos with genuine excitement around him, then muscle problems arrived and slowed everything down again. The cycle has become familiar enough that nobody should be surprised anymore.
Carlo Ancelotti, now in charge of the Brazil project, has been clear about his selection criteria: rhythm, intensity, regularity. Neymar currently offers none of those things with any consistency. Brazil's European-based players are racking up minutes in competitive leagues every week. Neymar is managing fitness in São Paulo and posting on social media.
That's the gap he needs to close before 2026, and it's a wide one.
Still in the conversation — barely
There's still a case for him. His quality on the ball at full fitness is different from anything else in the Brazilian squad, and Ancelotti is smart enough to know it. A late-stage World Cup group or knockout run with Neymar available and sharp? That's a different team entirely.
But "available and sharp" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. The Brazilian Football Confederation already has real internal doubts about whether he makes it to 2026 in any meaningful capacity. At this point, the sarcastic poker post is the most confident thing he's done in months.
