In a vaccum, Tottenham Hotspur striker Richarlison did not deserve to be in the Brazil national team squad for the 2026 World Cup, as he had a mediocre 2025/26 season for a Spurs side that was one Matchday away from being relegated to the EFL Championship.
But Brazil, unfortunately for them, did not exist in a vaccum. Becaues thanks to internal pressures, manager Carlo Ancelotti was forced to call up an injured and beyond finished Neymar to the national team squad for the tournament, and against all odds, he had to play him for around 30 minutes with everything on the line against Norway.
In a sad state of affairs and in his final appearance for the national team, Ney looked like toast. Sure, he scored a great penalty, showing Bruno Guimaraes levels from the spot, but that goal alone did not make up for 30 minutes of making the team look legitimately worse.
Carlo Ancelotti might as well have gone with Richarlison
Neymar was slow, lethargic, and a bit selfish. He could not beat his man, he could only take the safe sideways option, and he took away better positions for Vinicius Junior and basically neutralized the real star of Brazil in 2026 - and the only player who was beating defenders and creating chances for an awful, awful Selecao.
Although Richarlison is far from a superstar player, the Tottenham Hotspur striker was his team's leading goal scorer in 2025/26 and made the most out of few chances, occasionally scoring bangers on the level of his insane bicycle kick from the 2022 World Cup.
Most of all, Richarlison can work harder than Neymar, run faster, and, well, actually play. Whereas Neymar is 100 percent done at this level of football and even retired at the end of the game officially, Richy can at least make something happen on occasion and run his socks off enough to open thing up for the players on the wings like Vinicius Junior.
Brazil called up Neymar at the last second, but Carlo Ancelotti, if he could have this decision back, may have just taken Richarlison instead. Carlo always loved Richy from their days together at Everton and even tried to recruit him to Real Madrid in 2021, and you had better believe, especially from a team chemistry perspective, that he coud have done no worse - and probably a whole lot better - than Neymar at the 2026 World Cup. It is a sad statement to say about a legend like Ney, but it is 100 percent true.
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