Neymar Blasts Penalty into Stands, Blames Pitch (Video)

Neymar da Silva Santos Junior scored another goal Wednesday night as Brazil drew 1-1 with South American rivals Colombia at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

But the world does not want to talk about the goal Neymar scored Wednesday night. The world wants to talk about the goal he did not score Wednesday night.

More specifically, the web is abuzz this Thursday morning with chatter about the penalty Neymar missed.

Put simply, it was a bad miss.

Put a little less simply, it was a really, really, hilariously bad miss, and it came on the same day Neymar was nominated for his second straight FIFA Puskas Award.

With the match tied 1-1 in the 81st minute, Neymar stepped up to take a penalty. Rather, he took an elaborate run-up ahead of the penalty—then promptly skied the ball way over the bar.

What was it like? Well, it was like Sergio Ramos, or David Beckham, except that, well, those guys didn't carry on before the kick the way Neymar did. And he missed worse.

Afterward, of course, Neymar blamed the pitch. Via ESPN FC:

"It was horrible," Neymar is quoted as saying. "The pitch was completely unstable. It wasn't just the penalty—the pitch didn't help the game as a whole."

Ever the savvy veteran, Kaká walked those comments back a bit, perhaps realizing that it's a bit of a cop-out to blame the pitch for such a wild miss.

"The field was difficult—you saw that during the penalty kick," said Kaká. "It wasn't a perfect field, but I don't want to complain about it."

What about you, readers? Was the pitch really that bad? Or should Neymar just take responsibility?

Let us know in the comments.

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