This time everything should be different. Vinicius, a few months after scoring the winning goal in a Champions League final, is on the rise, the star of European football. His teammates and his nation rallied around him after the racial slurs he received in Spain for having the audacity to celebrate his goals; Several fans had come to the Stade Océane to urge him to keep dancing.
He’s not alone. Brazil’s attacking resources are so extensive that Tite didn’t even need to call up Arsenal forwards Gabriel Jésus and Gabriel Martinelli; he could afford to introduce Rodrygo, Vinicius’ Real Madrid team-mate, with just a few minutes to go. Roberto Firmino didn’t even come off the bench. For the first time in his international career, Neymar doesn’t have to feel like everything depends on him.
So perhaps his achievement can be explained by a newfound sense of freedom. Perhaps he’s playing unhindered by the suffocating pressure he’s worn for so long. Maybe he’ll feel more comfortable and express himself better in what could be Brazil’s strongest team since 2002.
Whatever the reason, his performance against Ghana was that of a man unwilling and unwilling to vacate the main stage. It would have been enough to score two of Brazil’s three goals, both of which were completed by Richarlíson – Marquinhos scored the other, a thundering header from a corner – but it was the reward for all he did.
Neymar looks different this season. He’s in a form that somehow makes it profoundly odd that about two months ago PSG not only seemed poised to sell him, but no one seemed desperate to buy the most expensive player in the sport’s history to buy.
As always, the bare numbers are just an illustration. There has been a sharpness, a poise and, perhaps most encouragingly, an invention for Neymar in recent months. Tite has said that he “flies”, synchronizing his “speed and execution to perfection”. Even Thierry Henry, usually unperturbed, feels “I came to tell everyone, don’t forget me.”