Rivaldo is confident Neymar will change his mind over Brazil retirement

Ben Stewart
Neymar-Brazil

Neymar recently revealed that he plans to retire from international duty after next year’s World Cup in Qatar, but Rivaldo is confident that the PSG forward will change his mind.

“Neymar’s recent comments about potentially retiring from the national team after the 2022 World Cup got a lot of attention, especially after he talked of the psychological reasons behind his comments,” Rivaldo told Betfair. “Neymar said he only had the ‘strength of mind’ for one more World Cup.”

Neymar has been capped 114 times by Brazil and has scored 69 goals, putting him just eight goals behind Pele, who is Brazil’s all-time top goalscorer.

Rivaldo says he went through a similar process of self-doubt during his career, but he is confident that Neymar will eventually change his mind.

“I had similar problems in my playing days, doubting if should keep playing for the national team during a certain period of my career due to heavy pressure from press and fans.

“But this is part of football and players like Romario or Ronaldo had the same problems. I consider this to be a normal pressure resulting from Neymar’s position as the team’s star man. When Brazil disappoints he is the often the one who gets the criticism.

“I’m confident this was just normal Neymar outburst, and what will really determine his future is how Brazil perform at next year’s World Cup.

“He will be 34 years old in 2026 and players can perform to a high level at that age nowadays. Much can still happen between now until 2026.”