Neymar has been in the news again since he arrived in the USA. Brazil’s record goalscorer has a calf injury so did not feature in his country’s draw with Morocco last Saturday, but that does not mean he has not been making headlines.Earlier this week, his long-term partner Bruna Biancardi announced on Instagram that she was expecting a third daughter with Neymar. He also has two sons. ‘I’m going crazy,’ he said. ‘I want to start a new group, and from today, they will be called the Spice Girls. Maybe even a K-pop group.’It has been the story of Neymar’s career in World Cups that he has made headlines off the pitch rather than on it during the four tournaments for which he has been selected. He has been afflicted with horrible luck that has stopped him emulating the great Brazilians of the past whose heir he was predicted to be.Latest estimates suggest that Neymar will miss Brazil’s last two Group C games, against Haiti in Philadelphia on Friday night, and Scotland in Miami, next week, but will be available for selection for manager Carlo Ancelotti for the knock-out phase of the tournament.Neymar, 34, has not played for Brazil since Oct. 17, 2023, when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while playing for Brazil in a South American qualifier against Uruguay in Montevideo. Neymar’s long-term partner Bruna Biancardi announced they are expecting a third daughter Neymar is back in training but is expected to miss Brazil’s last two Group C gamesHe has spent much of the intervening time injured and only forced his way into Ancelotti’s squad at the last minute, ahead of Chelsea’s Joao Pedro, and yet he is still seen by many as a potential saviour for the national team at this World Cup.Brazil are still struggling to adjust to the loss of their dominance in the international and their reduction to the ranks. They are not considered among the favourites for this tournament and Neymar represents a last link with a glorious past.Even though Vinicius Jr scored a spectacular equaliser against Morocco, Brazil looked like a team short on inspiration and stardust. Whether even a fully fit Neymar can produce that kind of magic the supporters crave in the knock-out stages remains to be seen.’He’s had so many injuries and he has not looked after himself in the way that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have looked after themselves,’ Eduardo Mack, a veteran media commentator in Brazil told me.’But Brazilians have this tendency to hold on to miracles, to big players. They associate successful players from the past with the prospect of bringing the results needed. There was a time when we had Ronaldo and Ronaldinho and then Kaka and right now we don’t have that.’We have good players who play well for their European clubs but we do not have anyone like heroes of the past. Neymar is the closest we have but we worry that all he is now is a name.’It feels as if Neymar has been cursed at World Cups. He was Brazil’s golden boy when the tournament was held in the country in 2014 and amid suffocating pressure from fans who wanted Brazil to resurrect the Beautiful Game, it was he who was tasked with winning the trophy for the nation for the first time since 2002.But after a scintillating start, Neymar became the object of increasingly brutal treatment by defenders and suffered a fractured vertebra in the quarter-finals in Fortaleza when Colombia’s Juan Zuniga kneed him in the back. He was taken from the field on a stretcher, distraught and in agony. Neymar celebrates scoring against Croatia in a scintillating World Cup start in 2014I watched that game with Brazil fans in a favela in Rio de Janeiro and amidst the joy of the victory over Colombia, the grief at the loss of Neymar was palpable. They sensed his injury meant the end of their challenge and they were right. Brazil lost their semi-final 7-1 to Germany.Four years later, at Russia 2018, Neymar was still recovering from injury and not at his best when Brazil went out in the quarter finals to Belgium and at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, another tackle damaged ligaments in his right ankle during Brazil’s opening match with Serbia. He came back to play in the knock-outs but Brazil were eliminated in the last eight again, this time at the hands of Croatia.Given that injury history, perhaps it is not entirely appropriate to call this World Cup Neymar’s last dance at 32 but, if his recovery from the calf injury goes to plan, it will almost certainly be his last chance to claim his place among the legends of Brazil like Pele, Garrincha, Zico, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo.The current Brazil team does not have players that compare with those greats. They have fine players, exciting players, they have Lucas Paqueta, Vinicius Jr, Bruno Guimaraes, Raphina, Endrick and Matheus Cunha but none of these compare with the legends of the past.When Neymar, who has scored 79 goals for his country, is not a soap opera and when he is not injured, Neymar has the talent to turn Brazil from a last eight team to legitimate challengers. Whether we get to see that version of Neymar at this tournament is yet to be revealed.