In the end, Neymar’s lasting legacy from the 2018 World Cup will probably be a KFC commercial that mocked his widely ridiculed roll against Serbia. The tumble also generated some great memes.
Every four years the World Cup comes around and presents some of the best athletes from the world of soccer. From incredible passes to mind-boggling goals, the tournament is the largest sporting competition in the world, drawing the largest television audiences ever recorded.
Neymar, perhaps the highest profile player in danger of missing the semifinals via yellow card suspension, was extremely fortunate to escape punishment for taking a dive in the box during Brazil’s quarterfinal against Belgium.
The forward’s hysterics have been a massive talking point from Russia, and he was given a booking during Brazil’s win over Costa Rica, putting him at risk of missing a potential trip to the semis if he were booked again.
When Miguel Layún stepped on Neymar’s leg during their Round of 16 matchup, the Brazilian star immediately kicked out at the Mexican offender. Almost as quickly, Neymar pretended to writhe around in immense pain. The reason for this odd little dance on the ground is simple — Neymar is one of the many players on yellows heading into the World Cup quarterfinals.
Including Neymar, there are 32 players on yellows ahead of the quarterfinals. If any of them pick up another card on Friday or Saturday, they will be suspended for the semifinals.
Brazilian soccer players are like American basketball players — no matter where in the world there’s a professional soccer team, there’s likely to be a Brazilian playing for it. Brazil players salaries range from the lowest leagues to the highest-paid players in the world.
The best of the thousands of professional Brazilian soccer players make up the Seleção, and the 23 players chosen to represent Brazil’s World Cup team. All are well compensated by their professional clubs, but not all Brazil players salaries are created equally on the 2018 squad.
Neymar antics are a controversial subject.
The question of whether Brazil’s superstar should be punished for his constant feigning, flopping and deceitful attitude leaves no one indifferent.
There are two sides to the story. First, you've got perhaps the most skilled player at dribbling who gets fouled, well, a lot. He is in fact the most fouled player of this World Cup thus far and is therefore considered to be a victim.
The Round of 16 is off to a flying start, and it's everything we need in a World Cup. The underdogs have been ruthless — Russia taking down Spain and Japan nearly beating Belgium.
Every game this weekend from the Round of 16 was an absolute nail-biter. Two games went to PKs and the world's two best players went out in tight, goal-filled games. It was awesome.
The opening 20 minutes of Mexico versus Brazil couldn’t have gone any better from an El Tri perspective. Carlos Vela and Andres Guardado were finding joy on the left with Fagner looking set for a nightmare. Chucky looked dangerous. But more importantly, Philippe Coutinho and Neymar hardly got a sniff of the ball with Rafa Marquez, Edson Alvarez and Hugo Ayala all taking turns putting the Brazilians on their backs.
Miguel Layún came on at halftime for Mexico and immediately set about making life difficult for Neymar. After a handful of physical challenges between the two, the El Tri defender stepped on the Brazilian No. 10 on the sidelines. Should red have been shown for the Layun stomp on Neymar? Or did the latter deserve red for flopping around like a dead fish?