When Brazilian under-23 coach Rogerio Micale suggested that Neymar could one day quit the Brazilian national team due to a lack of respect, the parallels that could be drawn with Lionel Messi’s treatment and subsequent retirement from Argentina’s setup were almost too self-evident.
Messi had run through the gauntlet with Argentina on seven separate occasions (four Copa Americas and three World Cups), his return of four runners-up medals dictating that the serial winner with Barcelona prematurely retire from international football.
Neymar, five years younger than his Barcelona compatriot, has only appeared in three major tournaments for Brazil, but he’s already beginning to feel the pressure of a footballing mad country deprived of major success.
Can Neymar and Brazil deliver? Photo: @NeyMarvellous | Twitter
Messi has hardly ever been guilty of underperforming with Argentina, and the same can be said of Neymar’s performances for Brazil. However, such is the magnitude of the microscope they’re under, both find themselves the subject of intense criticism for the performances of their respective squads as a whole.
They’ve become synonymous and representative of the name on the scoreboard which reads either Brazil or Argentina.
The process of dissecting a match in terms of the collective whole goes out the window.
Were they organized in defense? Did the other players finish guilt-edged chances? Did their managers make the right decisions?
All of these questions fall on deaf ears — the narratives of Messi and Neymar overpower any logical sensibility.
They are such focal points in their respective sides, Neymar especially so with Brazil’s U-23s, that the shortcomings of others become representative of their own qualities as leaders.
Messi plays at a different tempo with Argentina — every moment and every touch is massively heightened by the fleeting nature of international tournaments.
He crops up all over the field with life or death urgency, playing with a possessed determination to pull the strings as the game’s remaining minutes rapidly evaporate — the weight of another missed opportunity revealing that more have passed than actually remain.
Argentina are one of the most talented sides in all of international football, yet Messi’s teammates have contrived to provide none of their own magic over the space of these finals.
Cristiano Ronaldo was allowed the unbridled joy of watching Renato Sanches lift Portugal to glory. Messi has received no such assistance.
For Neymar, his standing as a global footballer of the highest pedigree makes his appearance at these Olympic Games seem somewhat unsporting.
Brazil want this Olympic gold. Brazil need this Olympic gold.
Messi has had no problems in displaying what makes him the greatest player alive on the road to major tournament finals. He’s done it consistently.
To see the pressure Neymar is under at these Olympics and the way it’s changed his role in the starting XI is astounding. Only Messi could possibly commiserate.
While Neymar could certainly elevate Brazil to Olympic gold this August, like Messi did at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, it’s only going to get a hell of a lot harder, and the criticism is only going to be that much more personal at the next Copa America or World Cup.
He can just ask Messi.
Follow me on Twitter: @ConmanFleming
