Brazil did not advance past the quarterfinals of the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Croatia was the team that managed to knock "La Canarinha" out of the competition. After the elimination, Neymar Jr. admitted that he felt like he had died. “Ney” remembers it as one of the worst feelings of his life. "My family was arriving with swollen eyes. They were looking at me like, 'Damn, what a life he had; he was a good guy,'" the former FC Barcelona player recalled in statements compiled and broadcast by TyC Sports. Neymar Jr. remembered the scene of the Brazilian players reuniting with their families. Sadness gripped a team that had just been eliminated in the semifinals on penalties. Rodrygo and Marquihos missed for the Brazilian team.

“I felt like I had died. We went to the hotel after the match… Man, it felt like the world had ended. We were slowly reuniting with our families, like in The Walking Dead, you know? (…) Everyone walked past you looking kind of serious, with a sad face, like, 'What the hell, right?' It was crazy. Man, I saw my own funeral, how could I have imagined it? I swore to God,” he described.

The state of shock was collective. The players' families didn't want to get too involved in the players' feelings. Elimination is a very vulnerable moment when there are rarely the right words to cope with the newly opened wound.

“I was sitting in a small room and they were arriving. My family arrived, all with red eyes, they all greeted me, but they didn't say anything. There was nothing to say, but I just sat there (with my arms crossed) for about five minutes, watching, and nobody said anything, they just stared. I was thinking: 'Damn, it feels like I'm in a coffin,'” explained Neymar Jr.

Neymar Jr. has experienced many eliminations in his career. At both club and national team levels, it's inevitable to go through the bitterness of defeat. In Brazil 2014, “Ney” indirectly didn't suffer the elimination at the hands of Germany because he was injured; in Russia 2018, he fell to Belgium in the quarterfinals,the same stage at which he would fall to Croatia four years later.

“They were looking at me like, 'Damn, what a life he had, he was a good guy,' that was the feeling. I said I was going to my room, that I wasn't well, that I felt bad. I went to talk to Marquinhos, who also didn't want to see anyone, and then I went to my family. See you in Brazil. It was horrible, the worst shitty feeling,” he concluded.

Brazil at the 2026 World Cup

The Brazilian national team is in Group C of the 2026 World Cup. The South American team will face Morocco, Haiti, and Scotland. “La Canarinha's” debut will be on Saturday, June 13, at MetLife Stadium against the Moroccan national team. Neymar Jr.'s inclusion in the squad is still being debated. Carlo Ancelotti has not yet given him the opportunity to return.