Neymar: Without a chance to kick a penalty, the lousy game that not even his great goal could save

It was offside, yes. But the move, which could have ended in a penalty in favor of Brazil by the hand of Croatian winger Josip Juranović, was a clear example that neymar not well. He received a pass from Vinícius Junior in the six-yard box, with his back to the goal, and instead of making the wall, feinting or some crack gesture that he usually has, he tried to finish off with a half turn and the ball ended up in the hands of Dominik Livaković , the hero who gave him the qualification to the semifinals to Croatia in the penalty shootout.

Ney ended up with his ankle like a tennis ball in the first match of the Qatar 2022 World Cup against Serbia. Ankle sprain was the final diagnosis. There was optimism for him to return in the round of 16. So it was. He returned against South Korea and did it in a big way, as he is.

The ’10’ started and led the Scratch win. He assisted Vinicius on the first goal and scored the second from the penalty spot. He was chosen the MVP of the match because he had a great performance and that made Brazil a potential candidate to win the world title.

However, it seems that the Brazilian is not one hundred percent. Or at least his numbers against Croatia, that is being defined in the extension, so he orders it. According to the real-time data from SofaScore, in the 90 minutes of the game, Neymar only had a 78% success rate in his passes. In addition, he won only eight of 21 games and turned the ball over 26 times.

In extra time he scored a great goal that could save his bitter match. When the clock marked 106 minutes, and while the legs were shaking for most of the players, ‘Ney’ took a play from the galley to score the winning goal. From midfield he advanced towards the rival area, made a wall pass with Lucas Paquetá, took Dominik Livakovic out, a Croatian goalkeeper who had been a figure until then, and finished off to make it 1-0 that made the Brazilians happy, but then he came Petkovic’s tie.

The game went to penalties and Neymar probably wanted to be the fifth to execute. He wanted to be the hero. But that decision has a risk behind it: that the team loses before. And so it happened. Croatia ended up qualifying for the semifinals after the failures of Rodrygo and Marquinhos. ‘Ney’, the ’10’, did not kick.

It broke a statistic, but it was useless

Brazil has a constellation of stars in attack that can define matches for you. But Neymar is called to be the outstanding figure. The crack to shine above all. Much more is expected of him. He is the Ronaldinho -slavaguardando distances- of the new era.

According to the Brazilian journalist Rodrigo Nunes, of the 19 goals he scored in the entire World Cup process with the Brazilian team, 13 were penalties (68.4%). In fact, the six that he marked this 2022 were from the twelve steps. A fact that demonstrates his effectiveness when it comes to executing shots, but his ineffectiveness in plays. And against Croatia he was shown.

Against Croatia he scored from a play -a great goal- but it was of no use. Perhaps if he had chosen to be the first performer, with the efficiency that he has, the story would have been different.

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