Neymar Faces Criticism After World Cup Exit

Neymar da Silva has barely stepped off the plane from the 2026 World Cup and he is already at the centre of another storm.

Brazil’s campaign ended with a thud, a 2-1 defeat to Norway in the round of 16 that sent the Seleção home far earlier than a football-obsessed nation is prepared to accept. The mood was bleak. Questions over tactics, leadership and mentality filled the air.

Then Neymar showed up in Las Vegas.

Just days after Brazil’s elimination, the national team captain appeared at a poker tournament in the city, instantly detonating a fresh wave of debate. Images of him at the tables raced around social media, his presence in the gambling capital clashing sharply with the sorrow still hanging over Brazil’s exit.

For many, it looked like a jarring split-screen: a country in mourning, its captain in Vegas.

The noise had barely settled when he did it again.

Left out of Santos’ trip to Venezuela to face Universidad Central in the first round of Sudamericana qualifying – a decision by the coaching staff to rest him – Neymar chose not to stay in the background or work quietly at the training ground. According to Brazil’s Globo network, he instead joined friends at the fourth stage of a Brazilian poker tournament.

Another hand. Another headline.

In sporting terms, nothing he has done breaks a rule. He was rested by Santos. The World Cup is over. He is free to use his time as he wishes.

But context is everything.

Brazil crashed out earlier than expected. The captain is under scrutiny. Santos are fighting for continental relevance in the Sudamericana. Against that backdrop, every public move becomes a statement, whether he intends it or not.

Neymar has long walked that tightrope between genius and distraction, between the player who can decide a match in a moment and the superstar whose off-field choices ignite endless debate. This latest sequence – World Cup disappointment followed almost immediately by poker trips in Las Vegas and Brazil – only sharpens that divide.

The cards keep falling his way off the pitch. The question now is how much longer Brazil and Santos will tolerate the gamble.