My friend,
@Yuuichirou Kumada , Neymar leaving the national team? What seems to be the general feeling down there in Brazil?
From an outsider perspective it seems his time as the star of the nation has been a waste. Before Neymar there was almost this mythical aura surrounding the Brazil nt, but Neymar seems to have been unable to carry the torch. Whether that's more to do with the nt in general being sub-par compared to past teams idk, there's probably validity in that, but there's no question who the man spearheading the charge was supposed to be.
If he does retire from the nt, what's his legacy?
For the time being, we haven't heard anything about him retiring from the NT, as he's still playing solidly. However, we don't speak much of it, but it is a consensus among us Brazilian fans that this is pretty much his last shot at World Cup glory. He could go at it again in 2026, but by that time he'll be 34 and we like our forwards young and supple. Vinícius Jr. seems to have this covered already, so not many will lament when he does hang it.
Matter of fact, all phases of our NT had their symbolic players: In the 60s we had Pelé and Garrincha, in the 70s we had Rivelino, in the 80s we had Zico and Sócrates, in the 90s we had Romário and Bebeto, in the 2000s we had the Ronaldos and Kaká, and in the new 10s we can say we had Neymar, for better or for worse. And perhaps Neymar's time is about to go down as something of a dark age, where players cared more about appearances than performance, and this deeply affected not only the way they played but the way they thought. I'll never forget the penalty shootout against Chile in the 2014 World Cup. The entire team was crying and cowering in fear. That sight alone put a severe dent in the general image of the team to the people's eyes, and 7x1 solidified it.
Neymar as a subject is very controversial to this day, a love him or hate him matter. You either admire his skills and his lifestyle, or you hate the fact he puts Italy to shame when it comes to diving and flopping around, and has no qualms in showing off his wealth and love conquests. He was relatively off the hook for the 2014 fiasco since he wasn't in the starting team for that one match against Germany, but it was clear the NT at the time depended way too much on him to carry on - If you see some highlights of that particular World Cup, you'll see the team suffered greatly whenever he got blocked.
You also have to see that his entire career was marred in controversy and hype. He was a total beast when he was a wee teenager in Santos (people were already demanding him be called as soon as the 2010 World Cup), and his time in Barcelona solidified both his best and worst traits. At the same time, he was swimming in mad pussy, partying fucking hard whenever he had the chance, and even teetered on becoming something of a lolcow - He sired a son with a one-night stand before he was 20, got into a one-again-off-again relationship with a popular soapie actress before breaking it off completely due to ideological differences (rumor has it he's a total righty and Bolsonaro fan like his dad, but he never let it show for fear of backlash), some psycho bitch tried to cancel him over supposed sexual abuse that was later proved to be complete made-up bupkis, supposedly spit-roasted up-and-coming popstar Anitta along with a former surf World Champion, so on and so forth. It seemed Neymar appeared more in the tabloids than in the sports pages, and footy fans down here didn't like it one bit. Thankfully he learned to balance his professional life with his personal one and never goes overboard, but the image still stood, and to this day we call him stuff like Neymedia, Neyflop, Neyfuck, Nerman, etc.
His legacy will be the same as Zico, Sócrates, Robinho and the like: A top-tier player who had the bad luck of not earning the World Cup, but who also accomplished quite a lot for his clubs (remember, he won a Libertadores for Santos in 2011 and a Champions League for Barcelona in 2015) and in the NT (Confederations Cup 2013, Olympic Gold in 2016 and Copa América 2019). He'll be among the greats, for sure, but not exactly a legend.
