The first player to work remotely

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made sarcastic statements against Neymar, during a ceremony held in a hospital in Belo Horizonte and broadcast live on Brazilian television, taking advantage of the national team captain’s continued absence from the 2026 World Cup matches due to injury.
Lula’s statements came after one of the children mentioned Neymar’s name during the ceremony, and the president responded sarcastically: “Neymar? He doesn’t even play,” before adding: “He is the first player in the world to be called up to the national team to work remotely.”
The Santos striker will miss the Brazilian national team’s second confrontation against Haiti, scheduled for Saturday morning in Philadelphia, after the technical staff preferred to keep him in the national team’s camp in New Jersey to continue recovering from a leg muscle injury.
Neymar also missed the opening match in which Brazil tied with Morocco 1-1, and was content to watch the match from the bench without being part of the match roster.