{"id":1743,"date":"2026-06-05T15:29:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T07:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/?p=1743"},"modified":"2026-06-05T15:29:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T07:29:16","slug":"neymar-stays-behind-as-brazil-put-world-cup-fitness-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/neymar-stays-behind-as-brazil-put-world-cup-fitness-first\/","title":{"rendered":"Neymar stays behind as Brazil put World Cup fitness first"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-7.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1744\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-7.png 1000w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-7-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-7-768x432.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Brazil will be without Neymar for their final World Cup warm-up match against Egypt, with the forward remaining in New Jersey to continue his recovery programme rather than travelling to Cleveland with the rest of the squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Santos star, who is recovering from a calf injury, has been left behind by Carlo Ancelotti&#8217;s coaching staff as Brazil prioritise having their talisman fully fit for the start of the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Neymar will remain in New Jersey to continue physiotherapy treatment and intensify his recovery work,&#8221; the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) confirmed in an official statement on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 34-year-old arrived at Brazil&#8217;s training camp already carrying a physical problem after suffering a calf injury during a Brasileirao fixture with Santos on 17 May. While his club initially described the issue as a simple oedema, the CBF conducted its own medical assessment after his arrival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Further scans reportedly revealed a grade-two muscle injury, forcing the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain star to miss Brazil&#8217;s 6-2 victory over Panama at the Maracana and now ruling him out of the final friendly against Egypt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result, Neymar has spent the majority of the training camp working indoors, focusing on rehabilitation and individual conditioning while only making brief appearances on the training pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His availability for Brazil&#8217;s World Cup opener against Morocco on 13 June at MetLife Stadium remains uncertain, although the coaching staff continue to project confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the fitness concerns, Ancelotti has repeatedly insisted that Neymar&#8217;s place in the squad is not under threat. &#8220;To be absolutely clear, he will be with us,&#8221; the Italian manager said. &#8220;We have complete confidence in him and there will be no changes. These are the 26 players who will represent Brazil at the World Cup.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the tournament now only days away, Brazil are taking no unnecessary risks with their biggest star, hoping that a cautious approach now will allow Neymar to play a decisive role when the competition truly begins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brazil will be without Neymar for their final World Cup warm-up match against Egypt, with the forward remaining<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1743"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1745,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1743\/revisions\/1745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}