After suffering a serious injury earlier this year, Brazilian superstar Neymar will miss the 2024 Copa America as he continues his recovery process.
Despite the tournament still being 6 months away, a Brazilian team doctor deemed it “too early” to reasonably expect the 31 year old to be back in game shape.
“We need to be patient,” team physician Rodrigo Lasmar told reporters. “Talking about a return before nine months is premature, this is a global concept for knee ligament surgeries’ recovery. It is very important to respect the biological time, the time the body takes to reconstruct that ligament.”
“If we follow those steps and after a long recovery, the expectation is that he can perform again at a high level.”
Neymar underwent successful ACL surgery in October after suffering a tear in a World Cup qualifying match vs. Uruguay. The injury disrupted not only his international schedule, but also threw a wrench into his debut with Saudi team Al Hilal, who doled out an eye popping sum to land the Brazilian.
The Brazilian medical team estimates that it will take roughly 8 months for Neymar to begin ramping up soccer activities. Neymar is Brazil’s all time leading scorer in international competitions with 79 goals across 129 appearances.
Brazil has been placed in Group D and will play against Colombia, Paraguay, and the winner of an upcoming match between Costa Rica and Honduras. The 2024 edition of the Copa America will run from June 20th to July 14th across several locations in the US.
Photo: Ronnie Macdonald. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.