Neymar Jr #10 of Brazil remained sidelined throughout his team’s 2026 FIFA World Cup opener against Morocco at New York New Jersey Stadium on June 13, 2026. (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)
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When it comes to calf muscles, you say that Brazil’s longtime star Neymar, Jr. is just not right and that U.S. star attacker Christian Pulisic has been left uncertain. Both have calf muscle injuries—Neymar on his right Pulisic on his left—that are hindering their abilities to play in 2026 FIFA World Cup matches.
Neymar Out Next Match, Pulisic Is Questionable
The 34-year-old Neymar has actually been out for a month with the injury, injuring it on May 17, while playing for Santos. Neymar did train alone on the sideline on Tuesday and with his teammates briefly on Wednesday. However, he hasn’t made his 2026 FIFA World Cup debut on the pitch yet and has already been ruled out of Brazil’s next Group C match against Haiti.
In fact, the Brazilian side may end keeping Neymar on the sidelines for the entire Group Stage so that he is ready for the knockout rounds. That’s assuming, of course, that the five-time World Cup champions will even make it there. Brazil did draw 1-1 with Morocco on Saturday, so will want to have better outcomes in its remaining games with Haiti on Friday and Scotland on June 24. Neymar has not even played at all for Brazil’s senior national team since Oct. 17, 2023, when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee during Brazil’s South American World Cup qualifier versus Uruguay.
Meanwhile the 27-year-old Pulisic injured his calf initially just last week in training and aggravated it during the USMNT’s World Cup opener—a 4-1 drubbing of Paraguay. That injury forced Pulisic out of the match by halftime. It’s still unclear whether he will be able to play in the U.S. Group D match-up versus Australia on Friday.
Christian Pulisic of the United States practices on his own, away from other players, during a training session for the 2026 World Cup at Great Sports Park on June 17, 2026 in Irvine, California. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
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Both Neymar And Pusilic Likely Have Calf Strains
It wouldn’t be too much of a strain to guess that both players have suffered calf strains—otherwise known as a pulled calf muscles. And I wouldn’t be pulling your leg to say that a calif strain is when you overstretch or even tear at least one of your calf muscles or the tendons that attach these muscles to bone. Such injuries are rather common in soccer—you know, the sport that the rest of the world calls football—and any other sport like basketball where you frequently have to launch into a sprint, as I have covered previously in Forbes. Sprinting entails pushing off with your feet and abruptly activating your calf muscles. And when those muscles are not flexible or ready enough to withstand the sudden force applied to them, you can find them, in the words of Natalie Imbruglia, torn.
Neymar Reportedly Has A Second Degree Calf Strain
The prognosis for a calf strain really depends on the severity of the injury. It’s common to classify muscle strains by degrees as I’ve covered before in Forbes:
- A First Degree or mild strain: This affects less than five percent of the muscle mass. You can usually return to sports from such injuries within one to three weeks. Sooner if you are trying to win the World Cup.
- A Second Degree or moderate strain: This involves more of the muscle but is still not a complete tear. This is what Neymar reportedly has. It’s not clear whether Pulisic’s strain is a first degree versus second degree one. Returning to full activity from a second degree one takes about two-to-three times as long as from a one degree one—or about three to six weeks.
- A Third Degree or severe strain: This is a complete tear through the muscle or muscle tendon apparatus. This uh-oh situation will keep you sidelines for a lot longer, likely months.
Surgery is typically not needed unless someone or rather something gives you the third degree. Instead, you could say that treatment of a calf strain is very RICE—meaning rest, ice, compression and elevation and not the stuff that you put under sushi. Rent comprises of, well, rest—meaning stopping your physical activity. Ice, ice, baby is something that you can apply to the injury 20 minutes at a time every two hours. Compression is where you wrap your calf with some type of compression bandage to reduce swelling and fluid buildup. And elevation is something you too can do—keeping your calf above the level of your heart to reduce the build-up of fluid as well.
So right now, we are left with uncertainty as to when exactly both Neymar and Pulisic may reach the pitch again. And how they might perform, which will matter if Brazil and the U.S. want to get a leg up on their competition.