“Hey Ancelotti, What About Me?”: Brazil Heads to the World Cup Without Neymar— For Now

MIAMI — The squad announcement was playing live on his phone. He was lying on a massage table, receiving treatment on his leg, surrounded by cameras for his YouTube series. As Carlo Ancelotti read through his list of forwards—Raphinha, Endrick, Vinicius Jr., Rodrygo’s replacement, the uncapped Rayan from Bournemouth—and still no Neymar, Brazil’s all-time leading goal scorer looked directly into the screen and delivered the line that has since been shared millions of times across Brazilian social media:

“Hey, Ancelotti, what about me?”

The moment played out in real time—Neymar undergoing a muscular recovery session the day after the Santos-Corinthians derby, watching the press conference live as Ancelotti concluded his list of strikers without mentioning his name. The clip, part of his YouTube series “48 Hours Unfiltered,” offered fans a behind-the-scenes look at what it feels like to be Brazil’s greatest player—and to watch your World Cup dream slip away in real time.

After the squad was revealed on Monday, Neymar told the media at an event in São Paulo he was “upset and sad” for not being picked. “I’m going to speak out here, because I can’t just let this pass,” he said. “Obviously I’m upset and sad not to have been selected. But the focus remains the same, day after day, training session after training session, match after match. We’ll achieve our goal.”

The Last Audition

Brazil’s March 2026 friendlies against France on March 26 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and Croatia on March 31 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando represent the last encounters before Ancelotti names his final World Cup roster on May 18. This was not simply another squad announcement. It was Neymar’s last realistic opportunity to force his way into Ancelotti’s thinking before the door closes—and the door is now barely ajar.

The decisive moment came not at a press conference but on a scouting visit. Ancelotti had traveled to Mirassol to watch a Santos match—specifically to evaluate Neymar. “I was scheduled to go to Mirassol to watch the Mirassol-Santos match and see both teams. We were received very well there,” Ancelotti said. “Neymar did not play. It’s important to point that out. I have nothing further to add to any of this.”

Neymar’s absence from that match—reportedly due to a muscular issue—frustrated both the Brazilian Football Confederation and Ancelotti’s staff, and effectively ended his March candidacy before the formal announcement.

Ancelotti left one door open: “Neymar is not at 100%, and therefore he is not on the list. If he can be at 100 percent physically, he can be there. Neymar could be at the World Cup. He has to keep working, playing, showcasing his qualities and maintaining good physical condition.”

The conditional was carefully chosen. Ancelotti did not say Neymar will be at the World Cup. He said Neymar could be—if he reaches a fitness threshold the manager has so far been unable to verify in any live match since taking over Brazil’s national squad in May 2025.

The Squad Ancelotti Has Built

The 26-man squad Ancelotti named for the March window reflects a Brazil in confident transition. Goalkeepers Alisson, Bento, and Éderson provide world-class depth between the posts. The defensive line features Marquinhos at its heart alongside Gabriel Magalhães, who has been one of Arsenal’s most consistent players this season.

Bremer returns from Juventus, while Alex Sandro and Danilo—both at Flamengo—offer veteran experience from the back.

Among the new faces earning call-ups were Galatasaray’s Gabriel Sara and Bournemouth’s Rayan—both uncapped—reflecting Ancelotti’s willingness to look beyond the established hierarchy for the right profiles.

Endrick, who has scored six goals in 12 appearances since joining Lyon from Real Madrid in the winter transfer window, has been named by Ancelotti and brings the kind of explosive, direct forward play that Brazil’s attack thrives on.

Brazil begins their World Cup campaign against Morocco on June 13. The five-time world champions will also face Scotland and Haiti in Group C—a draw that, on paper, positions Brazil as strong favorites to advance comfortably to the knockout rounds.

Ancelotti also talked about extending his stay as manager of Brazil through the 2030 World Cup, saying the Brazil federation is set to give him a new contract after this summer. “When a couple wants to carry on, I think there’s no problem,” he quipped. “Before the World Cup will be cheaper. Afterwards, it will be more expensive. I am very confident.”

Brazil’s World Cup Hopes: A Nation Divided

Beyond the Neymar question, Brazil arrives at the 2026 World Cup carrying the weight of sixteen years (four World Cups) without a title—and the complicated political backdrop of a nation whose October 2026 presidential election is shaping up to be one of the most consequential in its democratic history.

Brazilian football has always been more than a sport. The Seleção carries the emotional identity of a country of 215 million people—a vehicle for national pride that transcends politics, class, race, and geography. The 2022 World Cup elimination to Croatia on penalties, followed by the subsequent implosion of the squad’s relationship with each other and with the federation, left scars that Ancelotti was specifically hired to heal.

By most measures, he has. The dressing room is united. The football is attractive. The qualifying campaign was strong. But a World Cup without Neymar—or more precisely, a World Cup in which Neymar’s fitness is still unresolved with 90 days to go—creates an emotional narrative that Brazilians have been living with for two and a half years.

Neymar has not played for the national team since October 2023, when he suffered a serious knee injury during a World Cup qualifier against Uruguay.

Since then he has endured surgery, rehabilitation, a return to Santos, and a series of partial fitness setbacks that have made it impossible for Ancelotti to commit to him regardless of his historical stature.

After Carlo Ancelotti excluded him from the March list, Raphinha publicly backed Neymar to be part of Brazil’s squad in the 2026 World Cup—a display of solidarity from the squad’s current captain that signals how much Neymar still means within the dressing room even in his absence.

Neymar’s agent also issued a warning: “Ancelotti will not make this mistake”—a reference to the expectation within Neymar’s camp that the final World Cup roster, announced May 18, will include the striker’s name if he can demonstrate consistent fitness between now and then.

In a video posted to his YouTube channel before the squad announcement, Neymar offered a candid reflection: “Obviously it is my last World Cup.” The remark—delivered quietly, without self-pity—carried the weight of someone who understands that time and biology are no longer on his side, whatever his talent level remains.

The 59-Day Window

Between now and May 18—the date Ancelotti announces his final 26-man World Cup roster—Neymar has approximately eight to ten Santos matches to convince a manager who has repeatedly said the decision rests entirely on fitness and form rather than sentiment. “Thank you all for the kind messages today,” Neymar wrote on Instagram hours after the Brazil squad was announced—a grace note from a player who could easily have responded with bitterness but chose instead to acknowledge the public support that has followed him throughout his career.

During a live broadcast of a Kings League Brazil game, Neymar said, “There’s still one final squad announcement to go and the dream lives on. That’s it, we’re in this together.”

Whether Brazil’s most talented player gets to end his international career at a World Cup on American soil—playing in front of the largest Brazilian diaspora population outside Brazil itself, in cities where his name is painted on restaurant walls and worn on the backs of children who have never seen him play—is a story that 215 million Brazilians, and millions more across South Florida, are following with the kind of attention that has nothing to do with tactics and everything to do with what Neymar has meant to them.

The dream, for now, lives on.