On March 7, coach Dorival Junior officially announced the 23 players called up to the Brazilian team to prepare for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Messi’s Colombia and Argentina. Notably, star Neymar has returned.
Coach Dorival Junior’s decision to keep Neymar in the official 23-man list of the Brazilian national team from the preliminary 52-man squad was expected. Since returning to Santos, the 33-year-old has been playing extremely impressively, scoring 3 goals and providing 3 assists in 7 matches.
The return of Neymar after nearly 17 months of absence from the yellow-green team also means that players like Antony or Endrick have no place in this call-up.
The most regrettable thing is that since leaving M.U, Antony has played very well at Real Betis (Spain), scoring 2 goals and having 2 assists after 5 matches. As for Endrick, although he has tried very hard every time he has played, he has not yet found an official position at Real Madrid.
Meanwhile, the top stars of the Brazilian team who are playing for Real Madrid, Vinicius and Rodrygo, along with Raphinha of Barcelona, have all been called up. In addition, there are players playing in the Premier League such as goalkeeper Alisson (Liverpool Club) and Ederson (Man City); defender Gabriel Magalhaes (Arsenal), Murillo (Nottingham Forest); midfielders Bruno Guimaraes (Newcastle), Matheus Cunha (Wolverhampton); striker Saviho (Man City) are all named.
The Brazilian team continues to have many players shining in the domestic tournament, besides Neymar is the rising young star, only 17 years old Estevao (Palmeiras Club) and player Gerson (Flamengo).
For Neymar, returning to the Brazilian national team this time will have a lot of meaning, which is to mark his return to the 2026 World Cup, the last major tournament in his career, hoping to do something great.
In addition, he will have the opportunity to surpass former player Cafu to become the player with the most appearances for the Selecao in history. Neymar currently has 128 appearances for the Brazilian national team, 14 less than Cafu.
The Brazilian national team is currently ranked 5th in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in South America with 18 points after 12 matches. They will meet the 4th ranked team Colombia (19 points) at Mane Garrincha Stadium in Brasilia at 7:45 am on March 21. Then comes the challenging away trip to Buenos Aires to face Argentina (25 points, currently leading the table) of the famous player Messi, at 7am on March 26 (both Vietnam time).
This will be the first time Neymar has the opportunity to face his close friend Messi in the most complete way on the field, since the Copa America 2021 final.
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