Santos head coach Cuca heaped praise on Neymar ahead of Brazil’s World Cup squad announcement. The star forward scored in his team’s 2-0 league win over Bragantino on Sunday.

Neymar opened the scoring in the first half stoppage time to put his team in front. Adonis Frias then scored the second goal for the home team to give them all three points.

“Neymar played a very good game,” Cuca said. “He held onto the ball, created chances, and had brilliant plays to score. He scored a fantastic goal and indirectly contributed to the second goal. He played a very good game. When he got tired, Gabriel Barbosa came on.”

With this win, Santos were able to end their seven-game winless streak.

“I’m happy to have scored, to have helped the team and to win, which is the most important thing,” Neymar told Globoesporte after the game.

“We hadn’t won for some time.” Neymar has struggled with fitness issues since he tore the ACL and meniscus in his left knee on October 2023 while playing for Brazil.

Meanwhile, Neymar is in race against time to be fully fit for the upcoming quadrennial tournament. 

Neymar was recently left out of the Brazil squad for the International friendlies in March when they faced France and Croatia.

Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti had said the Santos forward was not 100% fit after announcing his latest squad. The former PSG and Barcelona striker has not played for Brazil since sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury while on international duty. 

The striker then had a minor surgery on his left knee on December 22, 2023.

Neymar is Brazil’s all-time top scorer with 79 goals.