The fallout from Carlo Ancelotti’s decision to include Neymar in Brazil’s squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup is far from over. Debate around the call is likely to continue throughout Brazil’s campaign at the tournament.
Few expected Neymar to make the squad. He has not played for Brazil since October 2023 and has struggled with repeated injuries over the past two years.
The former FC Barcelona forward was also disappointed after being left out of Brazil’s squad for international friendlies in March, making his World Cup selection even more surprising.
Modern football’s obsession with statistics can sometimes overshadow a player’s true influence. Greatness is not always measured by numbers alone, and even by that standard, Neymar’s recent record is modest. The Santos FC attacker has registered six goals and four assists in 15 appearances at the club level.
For context, Neymar made the Brazil World Cup team at the expense of Joao Pedro of Chelsea, who has starred for Chelsea in his debut season at Stamford Bridge, registering 20 goals and nine assists in 49 games.
The former Brighton and Hove Albion player had a great start to life with the Blues by scoring in the FIFA Club World Cup that Chelsea won, suffered a wobbler midseason before recovering to close out the campaign on a high note, highlighted by his stunning overhead kick in Chelsea’s 3-1 loss to Nottingham Forest. Quite simply, Ancelotti picked a player who has played 15 games over a player who has 15 goals in the English Premier League this season.
Though an ocean apart on the planet and several groups apart in the World Cup, with Brazil in Group C and Ghana drawn in Group L, the aftershocks of Neymar’s inclusion in Brazil’s 2026 World Cup squad have been felt in Ghana, and the resulting outcome will show in the coming days as Ghana readies itself for the Black Stars World Cup announcement.
A host of Chelsea fans are livid with the decision to drop the club’s Player of the Year Award winner for an over-the-hill star whose availability is still dodgy. Beyond club sentiments, Neymar’s World Cup news has shifted the dynamics when it comes to what the Black Stars could look like in the United States of America next month.
On the surface, Neymar’s inclusion gives the biggest green light for supporters of Dede Ayew to be confident about a triumphant return to the Black Stars for Ghana’s most capped player. After struggling to find a team and scoring just a goal in 17 league games for NAC Breda and generally struggling to impress, even the biggest supporter of the former Black Stars would objectively go against selecting Dede for the World Cup.
However, Neymar’s inclusion has given calls for Dede Ayew’s inclusion an advantage since the reported reason behind Joao Pedro’s omission was due to his poor performance in eight appearances for Brazil, while registering zero assists and zero goals, compared to Neymar, who has 79 goals in 128 games.
Since Ghana is nicknamed the “Brazil of African Football,” stemming from the fluid creativity that oozes from its players, it isn’t a stretch to use Brazil’s World Cup squad selection as a prime example for Black Stars head coach Carlos Queiroz to emulate when naming his squad.
For Brazil, Neymar made the cut at the expense of Joao Pedro and using the same analogy, Ghana is in line to pick Dede Ayew ahead of a player who is likely a favourite to make the World Cup squad and all indicators point to Inaki Williams. Spain-born Ghana forward Williams, who is the captain of Spanish La Liga side Athletic Bilbao, has been flat out poor for the Black Stars scoring just two goals in 25 games for the Black Stars.
Since making his first competitive debut with Ghana at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Williams has struggled to replicate his club form with the national side. On the flip side, Dede Ayew has a slew of top performances for the Black Stars on top of the experienced player’s prime motivation to leave the biggest international stage with a bang.
In past years, Williams’ club career has been the biggest case of defence for the brother of Spain winger Nico Williams, but that isn’t the case anymore as the 31-year-old failed to register double-digit goal contributions as he registered four goals and four assists 38 games this season.
It might sound cruel that Inaki Williams could very likely be the fall guy, but Antoine Semenyo is Ghana’s best player, Abdul Fatawu Issahaku has grown to become a starter, and the likes of Brandon Thomas-Asante and Jordan Ayew have strong cases to be included in the Black Stars World Cup squad, leaving Inaki Williams as the odd man.
For supporters of Dede Ayew, news about Neymar’s inclusion was the jolt needed in their calls but indirectly, Dede’s return to the Black Stars would mean Inaki Williams exclusion from the World Cup and potentially the end of his run with the Black Stars.
