Neymar speaks after World Cup criticism

Neymar has broken his silence after intense backlash over his decision to be part of a poker event while Santos played a crucial Copa Sudamericana match.

The ex-superstar continues to recover from Brazil’s shock World Cup elimination and his subsequent retirement from the national team.

Santos triumphed 4-1 away from home vs. Venezuela’s Universidad Central in the 1^st leg of the CONMEBOL Sudamericana playoffs. During the same time, the Brazilian sparked controversy by competing in a poker tournament in Brazil instead of traveling with his teammates.

After the controversy, Neymar shared a photo of himself smiling at the table with a short caption: “Life is a joke.”

His club head coach defended him: “Since Neymar was sidelined for several days and didn’t have any time to rest, we made the decision to get him even stronger, training hard so he can help us have a run of matches.

“In the next 10 days, our team is going to play 4 games. What was the point of bringing Neymar to Venezuela? He remained in Brazil and trained hard so he could be available in the upcoming matches.”

More on this topic:

Neymar sustains injury and is doubtful for the World Cup

🚨🚨| NEW: Neymar did not travel with Santos for the Copa Sudamericana trip to Venezuela. 🇻🇪

He instead played in a 𝐏𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 in Rio de Janeiro. 🃏🇧🇷

[@RMCsport] pic.twitter.com/uNWpxTTvS9

— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) July 23, 2026