Brazil are on their way home from the World Cup, defeated 2-1 by Norway in the last 16 with talisman Neymar deciding to call time on his international career. The veteran 34-year-old finished his tournament with a goal from the bench in stoppage time; however, it was a brace from Erling Haaland that set Norway on course for their first-ever World Cup quarter-final.
Neymar had been the third-highest goalscorer at a single World Cup finals and the second player to score in four editions, only trailing behind the legendary Pele, Brazil’s other talisman and only their third centurion, having won 130 caps and scored a record 80 international goals.
He is also the only player with multiple goals for Brazil at three separate World Cups after the group stages of this year.
“I tried. I didn’t manage to get here; that’s all there is,” an emotional Neymar told Globo after the defeat. “I began here, and I ended here.” The 2022 Brazil team is their earliest in four World Cups, though not their earliest in history, with Ancelotti accepting the shock reverse was painful.
“We had a match that we deserved to win. We will continue to work and be strong. We will use this pain as motivation for what is to come. I had an injury in the left hip at the time of the event.”
Brazil has lost just four World Cup matches when starting an opponent, and this result marks their worst World Cup performance since the 1990s, though Ancelotti’s men have scored goals more frequently than they did in recent tournaments.
