Robinho was once regarded as the next superstar for the Brazilian national team. Almost a decade later, the former AC Milan player is now on the wane but he is still involved with the national team after the reappointment of Dunga. The latest sensation for the South American team is Neymar. The Barcelona forward has shown that he can be much better, and probably exceed expectations, than many of the names before him. It is looking highly unlikely that Robinho will be involved with the national team at the next World Cup in Russia.
At 30 years of age, the former football architect of Real Madrid and Manchester City is likely to hang on only for a couple of years before retiring. He recently returned back to Brazil and this is widely seen an indication that his playing days have entered into the twilight. Robinho says that he is very much happy that the future of the Brazilian national team is in the hands of Neymar. He says that he is awe struck by the talent at the disposal of the 22-year-old, who has an astonishing 40 goals from just 58 international caps. Even at this tender age, he has been able to get more than 50 caps and many expect him to cross 150.
“Neymar is just a spectacular player. I knew he was going to be hungry for goals today. I told him he was going to score three goals, but he scored four! And he even missed a couple of chances that he would not normally, so it could even have been more. He decided the game for us. It was a difficult game, people find that Japan are weak but they are not. They are a strong team. They run very hard and attack,” said Robinho after Brazil’s recent friendly against Japan in which Neymar scored four goals.