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نصائح لحماية عقلك من مخاطر المستقبل والتفكير بذكاء أكبر في القرن الـ 21 • ترامب: المفاوضون الأمريكيون والإيرانيون “يقتربون كثيراً” من التوصل إلى اتفاق لإنهاء الحرب • Nicholas Mutu: Unwilling end of historic 28-year tenure in parliament • Tinubu wins APC presidential primary, to get certificate of return Sunday • Police Smash Seven-Man Kidnap Syndicate In Katsina, Recover ₦7.5m Ransom • The silence of the sage and the reordering of Bauchi politics, By Ja’afar I Dass • Tinubu wins APC primaries in Bayelsa with 277,192 votes • APC to present Tinubu with presidential ticket, flag Sunday • Police arrest six kidnapping suspects in Katsina, recover N7.5m ransom • Troops arrest suspect over deadly fight in Plateau • 2027: Labour Party opens screening appeals for aggrieved aspirants • European football: Harry Kane hits hat-trick as Bayern Munich complete double • Hull master the tension to make it an unlikely mission accomplished | Jonathan Wilson • Tinubu Wins Landslide In Kaduna, Rivers, Others As APC Holds Presidential Primaries • ADC picks ex-APC aspirant to challenge Ndume in Borno • Lagos introduces new materials testing reforms to tackle building collapse • Tinubu cruises to victory in Edo with 131,096 votes as Osifo polls one • Ireti Kingibe wins ADC FCT Senate ticket • 2027: APC members alone can re-elect Tinubu — Uzodinma • 2027 Polls: Chima Amadi emerges APP lmo East Senatorial candidate • نصائح لحماية عقلك من مخاطر المستقبل والتفكير بذكاء أكبر في القرن الـ 21 • ترامب: المفاوضون الأمريكيون والإيرانيون “يقتربون كثيراً” من التوصل إلى اتفاق لإنهاء الحرب • Nicholas Mutu: Unwilling end of historic 28-year tenure in parliament • Tinubu wins APC presidential primary, to get certificate of return Sunday • Police Smash Seven-Man Kidnap Syndicate In Katsina, Recover ₦7.5m Ransom • The silence of the sage and the reordering of Bauchi politics, By Ja’afar I Dass • Tinubu wins APC primaries in Bayelsa with 277,192 votes • APC to present Tinubu with presidential ticket, flag Sunday • Police arrest six kidnapping suspects in Katsina, recover N7.5m ransom • Troops arrest suspect over deadly fight in Plateau • 2027: Labour Party opens screening appeals for aggrieved aspirants • European football: Harry Kane hits hat-trick as Bayern Munich complete double • Hull master the tension to make it an unlikely mission accomplished | Jonathan Wilson • Tinubu Wins Landslide In Kaduna, Rivers, Others As APC Holds Presidential Primaries • ADC picks ex-APC aspirant to challenge Ndume in Borno • Lagos introduces new materials testing reforms to tackle building collapse • Tinubu cruises to victory in Edo with 131,096 votes as Osifo polls one • Ireti Kingibe wins ADC FCT Senate ticket • 2027: APC members alone can re-elect Tinubu — Uzodinma • 2027 Polls: Chima Amadi emerges APP lmo East Senatorial candidate

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2026 World Cup

Ancelotti’s World Cup gamble on Neymar shows Brazil still desperate for own Messi | Jonathan Wilson

The Guardian Football about 2 hours 1 mins read

Selecting a creaking talent underlines the political demands even the most successful coach in Champions League history cannot escape

When Neymar was 18, he made his debut for Brazil as part of the rejuvenation of the national squad after the disappointment of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. At the time, Lionel Messi was 23, obviously a star, and Brazil had to have their equivalent. Neymar has been trying to escape the Argentinian’s shadow ever since.

Even the news that Carlo Ancelotti has included Neymar in his squad for the forthcoming World Cup feels like a desperate attempt to create the sort of narrative Messi enjoyed at the last finals: a last dance long after the body had begun to fade. Messi then was 35; Neymar now is 34. But there are not many other similarities between the cases.

This article was sourced from an external publication.

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