Circus act Neymar is too selfish to be Brazil captain

Brazil fail without Neymar, and then Neymar fails Brazil.

If ever a team's relationship with its star turn was flawed, even vexed, it is the South American country's tendencies towards its captain.

It was roughly a year ago that Brazil entered a period of national mourning when the Barcelona forward Neymar was ruled out of the closing week of a World Cup finals in their own backyard having been kneed in the back. He suffered a fractured vertebrae during a 2-1 win against Colombia in the quarter-finals in Fortaleza to prompt widespread dismay.

Grown men and women wept openly in the streets before the host nation took to a doomed pitch in Belo Horizonte to face Germany in the semi-final a few days later. The team even held up a shirt of their missing icon before confronting Joachim Loew's lot to let the world know how much they were missing him.

It was all very touching if a touch phoney until Brazil were exposed as a side sporting severe limitations with or without Neymar. Amid much wailing and gnashing of teeth ranging from Rio to the rainforest, Germany's 7-1 flogging of the host nation is a sporting outcome that will continue to seep from Brazil's sporting psyche for decades to come.

But a year on, what have Brazil learned from that fateful night? Nothing it seems.

Brazil lost a staggering 14 goals during the World Cup finals and continue to leak goals against decent opposition. Dunga has been ushered in for a second term as coach, but they appear as limited as they were under Luis Felipe Scolari. Neymar, in particular, appears to be an unreliable loose cannon when the heat comes on. His four-match Copa America-ending ban for violent conduct is as a ridiculous as it is unnecessary, but a country like Brazil need him, such is the mediocrity lacing their squad. In this age of social media, Pele was never feted like Neymar.

The young number 10 is their captain a year on. Why is he captain? Thiago Silva was never reinstated to the role by Dunga having sat out the German humping due to suspension. Neymar was made captain on the fact that he scores goals. And lots of them. He is up to 44 goals in 63 for his country, but his returns also hint at the reason why he should be nowhere near the armband.

From time immemorial we have heard the hoary old line trotted out about coaches wanting strikers to be selfish in front of goal. He is. To a fault. His ego has also been massaged to a fault, and to Brazil's detriment.

Brazil lost 1-0 to Colombia in the Copa America a year on from their World Cup win. Rather than being carted off the pitch, Neymar was almost run out of town this time for aiming a headbutt towards the Colombia scorer Jeison Murillo. He then kicked a ball at Pablo Armero as he lost his sense of reality.

Dunga decided to blame the referee rather than look at the avoidable error from his self-absorbed captain. Yet the match stats suggest something else. Brazil committed 20 fouls to 19 by their opponents.

Elsewere, the Argentina midfielder Javier Mascherano has suggested his Barcelona team-mate Neymar had been "kicked out of the Copa America" by hammer throwers, but Brazil were equally culpable in booting James Rodriguez and Colombia up and down the pitch in the World Cup.

It is all well and good adopting the victim mentality, and for Brazil to claim Neymar is not protected by referees, but this is the same figure who dives, feigns injury and gets players booked and sent off due to his own theatrical worth.

Brazil enjoy jostling referees to get players into trouble. It is fairly bogus to suggest referees are at fault for Brazil's struggle to cope adequately with slick opposition. All's fair in love and war. Especially in South America, and especially when we are in an era when forward players have never had so much protection from match officials.

The very fact Brazil have reached this juncture is proof that Neymar is not captain material. It is odd that Dunga, a hardened figure who led Brazil's rise to winning the fourth of their five World Cups in 1994, should deem Neymar suitably equipped to cope with such leadership skills.

Neymar has rightly been banned for four games. If he had shook hands and walked off the pitch, he would have been available to face Venezuela in a key match on Sunday that his country need to win to reach the quarter-finals, but he will take no further part in this Copa America.

Neymar can’t be trusted to hold such an office in football blighted by examples of immaturity. He is a great player, but at 23 remains a circus act who is untrustworthy amid hostile environs.

Brazil are likely to fail without Neymar, but they also fail with him.