While Neymar actually had some good games during Brazil’s World Cup campaign, the 2018 edition of football’s biggest competition saw the Paris St-Germain forward tarnish his image, his legacy, and saw many fans turn away in disgust.
The former Barcelona attacker certainly had a vital role in getting his team through to the World Cup quarter-finals, but his antics and, let’s be honest, cheating soured what could have been a legacy-cementing tournament for world football’s most expensive player.
Sadly, play-acting and diving is an all too common part of the modern game these days, but Neymar just took this to frankly ludicrous lengths; feigning injury and adding roll after roll after roll after roll to any and all contact (or near-contact) that came his way.
Throughout the history of football and throughout the history of the World Cup, many often love nothing more than to see a Brazilian team full of flair, ingenuity, and pace do well. Unfortunately, this time out, many neutral fans were hoping for Brazil’s exit to come sooner rather than later – all due to the “gamesmanship” of Neymar. And those same people were likely cheering loudly when Belgium emphatically dumped Brazil out at the quarter-final stage.