Neil Humphreys: Don't kill off Neymar
Brazil superstar needs time to rebuild confidence
Watching the current Neymar is like watching a Hollywood movie with dodgy special effects.
The Neymar who played against Switzerland yesterday (Singapore time) was a CGI Neymar. The Brazilian looked, sounded and occasionally swaggered like the real deal, but something was missing. Something was just off.
In movie world, this phenomenon is known as the uncanny valley. It's a common, unsettling experience where we encounter a CGI character that resembles a human being, but isn't quite realistic enough.
Thanos looks real, but he isn't. So we don't fully buy into the performance. Neymar looks like Neymar, but he isn't, not quite. So we don't fully buy into the performance.
He was nearly Neymar and that's a problem not only for him, but also the team and particularly Tite.
Brazil's coach contradicted himself so many times in his press conference that he finally made less sense than his team's defending at set-pieces.
Tite couldn't quite get his story straight with Neymar.
The forward wasn't 100 per cent fit, Tite insisted, but he was fit enough to play 90 minutes. He's not fit, but he was flogged.
Neymar can relax a little because Brazil are now a glittering constellation of stars, but Tite couldn't trust them enough to reward Neymar with an early night.
He needs time to nurse his metatarsal, but he was kicked more times than a barn door trying to contain a restless donkey.
Neymar was fouled 10 times, the highest total since Tunisia fouled Alan Shearer 11 times at the 1998 World Cup.
But whacking Shearer was like booting a rabid dog for sport. Shearer lived up to his name. He cut opponents down.
Neymar is a half-fit dandy with hair like a bowl of pasta and a slightly suspect temperament after missing four months through serious injury. Against Switzerland, he didn't retaliate. He retreated.
The 26-year-old was kicked, pushed, pulled and even throttled (Stephan Lichtsteiner was booked for dragging Neymar by the neck.) As the Swiss rivalled the Spanish Inquisition for their ingenious attempts to maim, terrify and silence, Neymar seemed to succumb to the fear.
That fragile metatarsal must play on the mind. It's easy to break, but hard to repair. The threat of relapse is always there.
Neymar clearly knows this. When he jumped out of a challenge, he evoked memories of David Beckham, who did exactly the same after suffering the same injury in 2002.
Ironically, Beckham's opponents that day were Brazil, who relied on Ronaldinho to get past the Three Lions. Swop Ronaldinho for Neymar and the Selecao had the same approach against Switzerland, despite Tite's assertions to the contrary.
Casemiro, Paulinho, Willian, and Philippe Coutinho frequently served the same attacking master.
Compared to Brazil's plodders in 2014, the current lot occupy a different stratosphere, but the template hasn't really changed. Look up. Find Neymar. Wait for the magic to happen.
But it didn't. Instead, we witnessed a facsimile of an elite footballer, an uncanny replica of a wizard. Dribbles almost came off. Fullbacks were almost beaten. That explosive acceleration was almost there.
The illusion almost came off.
But the Swiss were rarely fooled by the deception. And when they were, they kicked Neymar instead, an approach that affected his judgment.
When he wasn't jumping out of tackles, he was trying too hard. The longer Tite left his star on the field, the more desperate Neymar became to justify his inclusion, the more ragged his play became.
In a way, none of this is Neymar's fault. He's not fit and Tite has other options.
Unlike Beckham's England in 2002, Brazil are hardly a one-man band banging away in search of a samba beat.
Roberto Firmino started on the bench. Coutinho could've been pushed forward into Neymar's left-sided role (the Barcelona midfielder scored from that exact position).
Tite had alternatives. But he persisted with a jittery genius, one that faded towards the end, leaving the coach in an awkward position.
Now, Neymar must start against Costa Rica. Victory is paramount. To keep Brazil's World Cup dream alive, Tite may risk killing the golden goose.
It's a difficult selection dilemma, but it's one of his own making.
The Selecao have already demonstrated that they can't win a World Cup with a half-fit Neymar, so they almost certainly can't win without him.
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