SAO PAULO: Brazilian superstar Neymar said Tuesday that he won’t be back playing at least until the second half of May, when he is scheduled to have his final medical exam following foot surgery.
“There isn’t an exact date yet. I have the last exam, if I’m not mistaken, I’m not sure, on May 17,” the Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil forward told a press conference in Sao Paulo.
“I’ll be cleared to play. Then I’ll see, it depends on how things develop, it depends on my next exams ... It has not been decided,” he said.
The timing leaves the world’s most expensive footballer in a tight race to feature again for PSG with the freshly crowned French champion’s season ending on May 19 with a game against Caen.
However, his prospects for starring in Brazil’s much-fancied side at the World Cup in Russia, which runs from June 14 to July 15, look much better. Brazil open their campaign on June 17 against Switzerland in Rostov.
“I hope I won’t watch the World Cup on TV,” Neymar joked, calling the tournament a “dream.”
“I will have enough time to prepare,” he said at the press conference, where he walked with crutches and his foot immobilized in a medical boot. “It’s evolving well.”
With the enforced rest period Neymar added, “I will arrive better than I was before.”
Neymar, 26, broke a bone in his right foot on Feb. 25 in a Ligue 1 game against Marseille, before returning to his home country for surgery and rehabilitation.
Brazil’s national team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar, performed surgery on March 3 and then estimated that Neymar would be out for “two-and-a-half to three months.”
In his absence, PSG were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid in the last 16 in March.
Brazil will also face Costa Rica and Serbia in their group, as they target winning a sixth World Cup, four years after the nightmare of their 7-1 loss to Germany in the semifinals on home soil in 2014.
For now, Neymar said he spends much of his time playing poker, his “favorite pastime,” and “playing video games and going on the computer.”
Not that he enjoys the couch potato experience much.
“There are doubts, of course. I feel them too. But it’s normal for a guy who ended up injured. This was the first surgery in my career,” he said. “It’s really hard seeing my team score and becoming champions without me being with them.”
“Still, I am more rested,” he said. “We have to look on the bright side.”
Neymar eyes ‘dream’ World Cup
Neymar eyes ‘dream’ World Cup
- Forward broke a bone in his foot on Feb. 25
- 'I hope I won’t watch the World Cup on TV'
Morocco part company with coach Regragui as World Cup looms
RABAT: Morocco parted company with coach Walid Regragui on Thursday, three months before the World Cup, with the country’s football federation naming Mohamed Ouahbi as his replacement.
Regragui leaves despite having led the Atlas Lions to the World Cup semifinals in 2022 and to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations at the beginning of this year.
“I leave my post with loyalty, gratitude, and the certainty that I have served my country,” he declared during a ceremony broadcast live on television, confirming weeks of persistent rumors that he was on his way out.
Ouahbi, 49, is promoted to the role having overseen Morocco’s triumph at the Under-20 World Cup in October, with the federation describing the move as “a strategic transition” in the run-up to the World Cup in North America in June and July.
“It’s a desire not to waste time and to take a different direction,” a source close to the Moroccan Federation told AFP.
“By appointing Mohamed Ouahbi and welcoming top-tier reinforcements, we are raising our standards and our demands,” the source said.
Morocco will be in Group C at the World Cup along with five-time winners Brazil, Scotland and Haiti.
They begin their campaign against Brazil at the MetLife Stadium just outside New York City on June 13 and will be hoping to make a big impression at the tournament before co-hosting the 2030 edition with Spain and Portugal.
“Our ambition is to consolidate our place among the best nations in a sustainable way and to perform well from this summer, as well as in 2030,” the leader of the Moroccan federation, Fouzi Lekjaa, said recently.
Regragui was hailed in 2022 after Morocco became the first African nation in World Cup history to reach the semifinals, beating Spain and Portugal along the way.
However, Regragui likely paid the ultimate price for the manner in which Morocco lost the recent AFCON final to Senegal.
His team were beaten 1-0 after extra-time at the end of a match marred by the Senegal team’s decision to walk off the pitch in protest at the award of a controversial late penalty to the hosts.
The penalty award with the game goalless sparked trouble in the crowd involving Senegal fans, 18 of whom were jailed following the disruption.
Real Madrid star Brahim Diaz eventually took the penalty after a long delay but his kick was saved and Senegal went on to win the game.
