Neymar: Rating His Performance for Brazil in Olympic Semifinal

Neymar and Brazil are through to the final of the Men's Football event at the 2012 Olympics in London. They are just one win away from winning what they have never won before. And only the youth and exuberance of Mexico stands in their way.

Neymar gave another good account of his talent against South Korea today. Let us recap how the 20-year-old from Sao Paulo performed in the penultimate match of the tournament for Brazil and subsequently we will rate his performance.

Neymar was a tad disappointing in the first half while South Korea were giving a very good account of themselves. The Koreans were at least matching Brazil, if not playing better. The Brazilian had very few touches as the game had a start-stop pattern with at least 19 stoppages because of fouls and free-kicks in the first 45 alone.

He first tried to dazzle his way past the midfield, being successful to an extent before he found it hard to retain the ball against the Korean defense and was brushed aside. Seeing him try doing it all on his own is sometimes frustrating to watch but equally entertaining on other occasions. However, as he grows he will need to learn that it is better to pass it earlier sometimes.

Then Neymar tried to initiate a counter following a South Korea free-kick but hit the ball farther than what Leandro Damiao could have collected. His last work of the first half was in the build-up to the first goal.

Neymar and company broke swiftly from midfield to worry the Korean defense who left Romulo open while keeping their eyes on the advancing Neymar. Romulo struck a decent shot which should have been saved by the keeper to be fair.

Though Brazil were leading after the first half, Neymar did not particularly play well. After the Honduras game where Neymar was involved in controversy, he said that he would not let anything get in the way of his play. He did raise his game in the second half.

Initially he gave away possession easily which led to him fouling out of frustration. He knew he was not having a great game.   

Neymar came to life for the second goal. He linked up very well with Marcelo on the left hand side before his ball was planted in the net by Damiao. The young Brazilian then again got involved in the third goal. A long ball caught the Korean defense napping and got Neymar into a dangerous area. He took full advantage and passed to his teammates before Damiao finished very well.

After the third goal, the Koreans were looking tired after their marathon against team Great Britain. This gave more chances to Neymar to exert his influence.

He first displayed some tricks after Marcelo released a ball to him before losing possession again when passing to a team-mate would have been better. He then attempted another dribble through the middle where he showed a little more strength as the Koreans found it harder to knock him off the ball. 

Towards the end he made a chance for himself after dropping his shoulders and getting lucky as the ball fell in his path after his first attempt to beat his man was unsuccessful. He blazed over with the resulting chance.  

Neymar left the best for the last as he showed traces of Ronaldo within him. He made his way forward through the left before composing himself for the cross. Unfortunately, he was not able to find a teammate for Brazil’s fourth.  

Play aside, I believe it is the attitude that separates the good players from the really great ones. Even if Neymar was not having an impact on the game at times he showed that he will give his all in winning the ball back. He was constantly making good runs throughout the match and provided an outlet for any counter-attacks that Brazil wanted to spark.

I am being very generous giving Neymar a score of eight for his performance in the semi, but to be fair, he did have the most telling impact of all the players out there today. He was involved in all the goals, which is all that you can ask of a player.