2018 World Cup: The unmistakable brilliance of Neymar is undermined by unforgivable fury

Perhaps it is old-fashioned to hope that our heroes can show some nobility. Neymar was excellent here, by far his most effective game of the World Cup, a stripped down, almost generous performance, but just as it seemed that he could become the player that Brazil needed him, he was indulging himself to the kind of histrionic do it and the game no favors.

Miguel Layun stepped on his ankle as he retrieved the ball, which Neymar was gripping between his feet. Maybe it was deliberate, maybe not, but the proximity of the fourth official and his decision to do nothing suggested that there was little annoyance. Neymar, however, has thrown himself into a spasm of feigned agony with the obvious enough intention to have the midfielder expel Mexico. He was again in the final seconds, throwing himself on the ground with a scream of anguish, only to dust himself off and go back once satisfied that no free kick would be given.

Maybe the Brazilians will say that it's just jeitinho the spirit of cunning and law that runs with perverse effect across much of its society, football to the spectacular and corrupt politics, but he cheats and ruins what was otherwise very impressive

Neymar had lost blond hair, and with that, it seemed, some of the bravery that characterized his performance in the group stage – or maybe was it simply that Brazil had less ball than they had before. As Mexico controlled possession from the start, Neymar was reduced to looking from the left flank, waiting for Brazil to thwart. Sometimes it was possible to see in him something later Cristiano Ronaldo, a supremely skillful artillery engine to be put into action only when the occasion required it. The goal of opening was the result of his ingenuity, a rear wheel that for once was not a useless flourish but that opened the defense.

But the selfish Neymar has not been erased. He always seems to consider life as a great film of which he is the leader and all the other extras. If not, why would he take an absurd distance free kick just before half-time, putting the ball well above the bar when a badped ball in the box could have been the best option? Why else if he thought that someone would have scripted it, that this World Cup would become a story in which he would overcome his frustrations to become the hero?

The transformation of four years ago is remarkable. At the time, he seemed remarkably mature, the only sane man in a hysterical country. The video message that he gave after his injury against Colombia in the quarterfinals was a pattern of conciliation and acceptance, but he did nothing to counter the emotional incontinence of the semifinal when David Luiz waved a Neymar shirt and a team in a frenzy, imploded against Germany.

Titus calmed the frenzy, despite the stupid parochialism and right of most Brazilian media. He has created a team that plays modern, progressive and effective football. He dismissed Brazil from the rough days of Dunga Dinosaurs and Luiz Felipe Scolari. But he did not solve the problem of Neymar.

Maybe the trend has always been there. This is perhaps the trend that led Neymar to leave Barcelona for the vanity project of Paris St-Germain. But what is certainly true is that it flourished there. As a second Sun King, his every whim was delivered, a process that culminated with his three-day anniversary where coach Unai Emery was asked to cut the cake, an indignity clearly designed to emphasize where the power at the

Four years ago, Neymar's dependence on the team seemed to be a burden that he had to endure, a terrible weight for a player so adept at wearing. This time, it seemed sometimes that he was determined to recreate it. But here, there were signs that he slowly submits to the collective, using his skills for the team rather than his own self-aggrandizement. But it's a continuous process, and its unmistakable brilliance is undermined by unforgivable impbadibility.

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