Neymar’s brilliance undermined by his snideness

Perhaps it's outdated to hope that our heroes would possibly exhibit somewhat the Aristocracy. Neymar used to be very good here, via some distance his most efficient recreation of the World Cup, a stripped-down, almost beneficiant performance, but just because it appeared he could be becoming the participant Brazil need him to be, he indulged in the sort of histrionics that do him and the sport no favours.


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Miguel Layun did tread on his ankle as he retrieved the ball, which Neymar used to be clutching between his toes. Perhaps it used to be deliberate, perhaps not, however the proximity of the fourth reliable and his decision to take no action urged there used to be little untoward. Neymar, though, threw himself into a spasm of feigned agony with the moderately glaring aim of getting the Mexico midfielder despatched off. He used to be at it once more in the last seconds, flinging himself to the bottom with a screech of anguish, best to dust himself off and trot again as soon as satisfied no free-kick used to be going to be given.

Perhaps Brazilians will say that is simply jeitinho, the spirit of crafty and law-bending that runs with malign effect thru such a lot of its society, from football to the impressive corrupt politics, but it's cheating and it ruined what used to be differently an extremely spectacular performance, both individually and from Brazil.


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Neymar had misplaced the blonde tresses, and with it, it appeared, one of the vital brattishness that characterised his performance in the group level — or perhaps it used to be simply that Brazil here had much less of the ball than they had had in the past. As Mexico managed ownership early on, Neymar used to be reduced to staring at from the left flank, looking forward to Brazil to counter. At occasions it used to be conceivable to look in him one thing of later-day Cristiano Ronaldo, a supremely skilful artillery engine to be rolled into action best when the instance demanded. The opening purpose used to be a result of his ingenuity, a backheel that for as soon as wasn’t a needless flourish but which unlocked the defence.

But the self-serving Neymar has not been obliterated. He still turns out to treat existence as an excellent movie during which he's the lead and everybody else mere extras. Why else would he have taken on a free-kick from absurd distance just prior to half-time, spooning the ball neatly over the bar when a whipped ball into the field may have been the simpler option? Why else than because he concept somebody may have scripted it, that this World Cup will yet become a story during which overcomes his frustrations to emerge as the hero?

The transformation from 4 years in the past is remarkable. Back then, he appeared remarkably mature, the one sane guy in a hysterical country. The video message he gave following his damage towards Colombia in the quarterfinal used to be a fashion of conciliation and acceptance, but it surely did nothing to staunch the emotional incontinence of the semi-final, when David Luiz held up a Neymar blouse and a staff whipped into a frenzy, imploded towards Germany.

Tite has calmed the rush, in spite of the staggering parochialism and entitlement of a lot of the Brazilian media. He has created a staff that performs trendy, revolutionary, effective football. He has dragged Brazil clear of the boorishness of the Dunga and Luiz Felipe Scolari dinosaur days. But he has not solved the problem of Neymar.

Perhaps the tendency has at all times been there. Perhaps it used to be the tendency that led Neymar to leave Barcelona for the vanity undertaking of Paris St-Germain in the first position. But what is undoubtedly true is that it has bloomed there.