Welcome back to Cooper’s Corner for year 2. Normally you would expect to see some football predictions, this being Week 1, ESPN came to town for a football game, or some sort of other sports predictions, however this week on Cooper’s Corner we are examining the hypothetical. Neymar, the prince who never became the King, the next in a long line of Brazilian greats who could never ascend to the heights of Pele. The likes of Ronaldo, Romario, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, and Kaka all had their careers marred by injury, external pressures, or a lack of desire to focus on one’s career. Neymar seemed to be destined for greatness ever since he broke through the academy of Santos in 2009. When he broke out onto the scene Neymar dazzled, his dribbling skills already world class. He dominated the Brazilian league, and led Santos to a Copa Libertadores title in 2011. All across the globe Neymar was becoming an icon and nothing short of a superstar in Brazil. He even won the South American Footballer of the year award. In 2013 Neymar was bought by Barcelona, and over 56 thousand fans greeted the Brazilian in the Camp Nou. An already stacked Barcelona squad featuring one of the all time great attacking trio’s pairing with Messi and Suarez. After the 2013 season Neymar was called up to the Brazilian National team participating in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Neymar returned to his homeland as a hero ready to pronounce himself the star he was destined to become. In his first game of the World Cup, Neymar netted a brace against Croatia and again against Cameroon in the group stage. Neymar was positioning himself for greatness, he was having an all time World Cup. They defeated Chile on PK’s in the knockout stage. Here is where the hypothetical begins. In the quarter finals Brazil faced Colombia, they would go on to win 2-1. David Luiz scored an all time freekick goal to seal Brazil’s win, a goal that captivated the entire country. All of Brazil must have been rocking with excitement. It was clear that this was Brazil’s World Cup to win, they had the best player, all the momentum, and a daunting environment for away teams, but disaster was imminent. After the goal, Juan Camilo Zúñiga made an all time reckless tackle, launching his knee into the back of Neymar, fracturing several vertebrae in the process. Brazilian morale was completely destroyed at that moment. They struggled to hold on in the remaining time of the game, and all hope seemed to be lost after losing their best player in the world at that moment. Brazil stood no chance against a clinical German side suffering from one of the biggest cultural embarrassments of all time.
Here at Cooper’s Corner we are exploring what if that never happened? Firstly, a supremely confident Brazil team rolls into a World Cup semi-final. They face a hot German team, however I contend that a team with so much momentum and so much at stake, they would have gotten the win. I think that Brazil was too shaken after the loss of Neymar to emotionally compete with the Germans. Then Brazil would have advanced to the World Cup final against Messi’s Argentina. I argue that this would have been an all time great World Cup Final. Brazil v Argentina, heated rivals, 2 superstars at the peak of their powers, at the Maracana, a packed house of Brazilians. You can not write a Hollywood script like that. With all of the hype around this match I imagine that Brazil would go on to win, maybe a last minute goal by Neymar propels him above Messi to win the final in Brazil for Brazil. Neymar gets his World Cup, certainly winning player of the tournament, and I contend that he would go on to win the Ballon d’Or in 2014. At that very moment, Neymar propels himself into the GOAT conversation. Neymar would have the chance to pass Messi, his 2015 team won the UEFA Champions League with the dangerous trio up top. Neymar maintains his confidence, and parlays this momentum into an all time legend status. Would he have moved to PSG, I don’t know however I believe that Neymar, if he does not get injured, becomes the greatest soccer player of his generation, an all time legend in the game. In the next seasons he becomes crowned the new King, a king of Europe and the World. Obviously this did not happen, he took the knee to the back and obviously became a different player.
After Neymar’s injury, he still became a superstar with Messi and Suarez, an all time attacking trio. However, Neymar became scared, it seemed that he began to fall at every ounce of contact, fearing the worst. In the 2018 World Cup the “Neymar Challenge” became a thing, the incessant flopping, the diving at every touch, forever ruined Neymar’s public perception. At PSG Neymar started to fade into obscurity; he could never win a Champions League with Mbappe, or Messi, and he could never really make himself the star again. There was a flicker of the old Neymar in the 2022 World Cup when he put a goal past Croatia which could have been a World Cup defining moment if Brazil did not lose, but the magic of the 2014 Neymar was never reached. As a Brazilian, I still hoped that somewhere in there Neymar could find that magic once more, and maybe just maybe win the 2026 World Cup. But, now with his move to Al-Hilal it seems Neymar has given up, sold out, and it just makes me sad as someone who grew up loving Brazil. It is the end of an era, my era where I thought one day Neymar would one day become the King he was supposed to be. Neymar and that 2014 team is the reason I love sports. It captivated my imagination and made me fall in love with the beautiful game. I am here writing this today because of the idea of Neymar, the idea of that team. That hope molded me into a sports fan and it is sad to see this era presumably come to a close with his latest move. This week’s Cooper’s Corner has been something I’ve been writing for a while, a hypothetical which I presumed would occur during my teenage years. Next week we will return to real predictions.
