The name is Neymar.
Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior.
Or just, Neymar.
The most anticipated arrival to the soccer scene made his way Sunday night to the pantheons of Brazilian greats when he graced the pitch in Brazil’s opening round match against Venezula in the Copa America tournament being played in Argentina. Though the match ended in a disappointing 0-0 draw against Bolivia, Neymar was a central figure throughout.
Neymar.
Yes Neymar.
Have you heard of him?
He’s the next Brazilian hero for all of soccer kind.
He is the next great Ronaldo.
Or Rivaldo
Or Adriano
Or Robinho
Or Ronaldinho
Or Cafu
Or Romario
Or may we even dare to mention the great Pele.
He’s next in the great one of South American soccer princes.
Neymar has been all but booked to be part of Real Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus, Manchester United, Chelsea…. The list goes on and on.
Yes Neymar, have you heard of him?
You can see him for the next few weeks on Sport 5 live +, and he plays again on Saturday night at 10pm against Paraguay.
You’ll have to pay for the privilege to see him in Israel, but he’s supposed to be the next great thing.
Yes Neymar, playing in Argentina, yes the land of the soccer greats, Barcelona’s own Leo Messi.
Messi, is by far the most popular player in Israel and of course in the world.
Messi dazzles. Messi creates. Messi scores.
Messi is Messi.
Messi arguably the most talked about player of his generation.
However, the stage is set for the coming out party for the next great one.
Yes Neymar. With a 27 goals in 64 senior team appearances wit Santos, Neymar scores in bunches.
Look at his international appearances. Two of them. One against the United States, his first senior match for Brazil on the big stage, which he turned into his coming out party, yes with a goal in a 2-0 victory for Brazil.
Or how about the two he scored against Scotland in this past March in London.
Neymar. A petition of 14,000 tried to get him included on the 2010 Brazil World Cup Squad.
Dunga’s team. Even some of the greats mentioned above begged for Neymar to be included. But he was not.
This is now Neymar’s tournament.
This is Neymar’s chance to be in the spotlight.
This is the chance to see the potential match up between Messi and Neymar.
The Great One, against the Next One.
Will Neymar be on the backs of every Israeli youth like Messi and Ronaldo? (Just ask my children! They already have both!)
Time will tell. But one thing is for sure. You can catch Neymar for the next few weeks.
And you will probably not be sorry.
Yes Neymar. Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior. Or just Neymar.
Have you heard of him?
If you haven’t, you in Israel, your children and the rest of the world will hear about him very, very soon.
Yes, Neymar._______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The Sports Rabbi, Wednesday 8-10pm Israel Time, 1-3pm EDT! www.rustymikeradio.com Great Guests include, Lang Whitaker-Slam Magazine & author of In the Time of Bobby Cox, Maayan Efrat on Maccabi Tel Aviv''s signing of former Duke Star Jon Sheyer, Jon Scheiman on the NBA Lockout, Doc Ike on all the trades and signings in the NHL & Dave Faris on MLB! Check out www.sportsrabbi.com and follow me on twitter @thesportsrabbi