France Vs Senegal, Neymar’s Injury, Co-hosting…: Will Brazil Win The 2026 World Cup?

FEATURE

The World Cup, a quadrennial global fiesta will be kicking off today And for the next one month football enthusiasts will be partaking in a visual feast and subjected to an emotional rollercoaster. The gamut of emotions will be witnessed on and off the pitch as national teams triumph and get trashed.

Legions of supporters will experience an admixture of vicarious pain and pleasure. Pain of loss, pleasure of victory. From the stands in stadiums to the recesses of rooms people will cry and cringe over missed scoring opportunities, whoop and celebrate for chances converted. Every other news items will be consigned to the margins of national dailies as fixtures, results and other updates about the world cup take pride of place.

No doubt, the world cup is an event that cannot be ignored. Its significance transcends the pitch of play. Commerce feels its allure; viewing centres burst at the seams, booze witnesses a sales boom. Every other mundane activities appear to be suspended as football — or soccer as Americans prefer to call it — becomes the talk of the town.

However, this year’s edition promises more nail-biting matches because more countries will take part in it. 48, as against 32 that used to feature in the event, will start the race for glory today. Canada, Mexico, and the United States will co-host the event.

Meanwhile, the peoplestemplate observes that there are similarities too strange to ignore between this year World Cup and that of 2002. Football powerhouse, Brazil aka Samba Boys, won the 2002 edition

Here are the similarities:

France Vs Senegal:

In 2002, the Terenga Lion of Senegal came to the World Cup as debuntants. Many pundits did not give them a chance against a star-studded France that happened to be at the event as defending champions. France had beaten Brazil, winner of the 1994 edition in the US, by 3 goals to nothing at the 1998 final. The ’98 edition was held on France’s own home soil.

Football, however, is not played on paper, Winners are decided via 90-minutes, in some cases by more than that, of play on the pitch. And in 2002, the world witnessed a shocking upset as debuntant Senegal beat the defending champions by 1 goal to nil. The decider was scored by Papa Bouba Diop. Diop’s goal was assisted by that trickster of a player, El-Hadji Diouf in the 30th minutes of play.

France will play their first match against Senegal again in this year edition. Which team will carry the day?

Neymar’s Injury:

In the build up to the 2002 World Cup, Ronaldo Nazario Delima, aka El-phenomenon, suffered a devastating injury that nearly ended his glittering career. In fact, doctors advised him against playing in the 2002 World Cup. Ronaldo, who was the star player of Brazil, recovered in time to play the tournament. He did not just participate; the Inter Milan star put up a stellar performance. He score two goals against the legendary German goalkeeper, Oliver Kahn and emerged as the tournament’s highest goal scorer and won the golden boot.

Fast forward to 2026, Neymar has been battling injury for some time now, the Brazilian superstar, was not expected to be included in the list of players for this year World Cup. However, the Brazil head coach, Carlo Ancelotti, has bowed to pressure and shoehorned Neymar into the Brazilian team. Will Neymar replicate Ronaldo’s performance at this year’s World Cup and win the trophy for the Samba Boys after 24 years?

Recall that like Ronaldo in 2001, Neymar did not feature in any of Brazil’s qualification matches.

Co-hosting

The 2026 World Cup will be jointly hosted by Mexico, Canada and the United States. Matches are spread across 16 iconic cities in North America, making it the largest and most geographically expansive World Cup in history.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time countries will co-host the mundual. In the 2002, Korea and Japan, two Asian countries, co-hosted the tournament. Brazil won that year edition having best another football powerhouse, Germany in the final by two goals to nil.

History, they say, do repeat itself. Are these similarities pointing to something noteworthy? Will Brazil win the 2026 World Cup? Will Neymar apparent last dance take him to the pantheon of the footballing greats?