India, June 1 -- For all the tactical sophistication that makes Carlo Ancelotti perhaps the most universally respected coach of his era, there is something undeniably perplexing about the Italian trying to build any part of Brazil's World Cup project around Neymar. It isn't desperate because Neymar lacks greatness. It is desperate because Brazil keep turning to him as though history have left them with no alternative.

Till last week, Neymar, 34, was undergoing physiotherapy at Santos with the club management publicly describing his case as a mild oedema in his right calf and the Brazilian football confederation (CBF) taking a more cautious approach about his recovery timeline. He didn't take part in the first closed training session at G...