EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ -- Morocco's FIFA World Cup opener against Brazil on Saturday is one of the most intriguing and hotly anticipated games of the group stage.
Carlo Ancelotti's side arrive with enormous talent, a new (and legendary) head coach, and the weight of expectation that always follows the Selecao, now 24 years without a world title.
Morocco arrive with burgeoning confidence, a squad full of quality, a new head coach of their own, and the determination to prove that their run to the semifinals in Qatar was not a one-off.
It's sixth in the FIFA World Rankings versus seventh, but this game still carries the sense that it could be one of the big giant-killings of the group stage.
However, in the days, weeks, months before the fixture, the dominant story in Brazil has not been tactics, form, or even Morocco. It has been Neymar.
'Will he play? Will he start? Should he have been included in the squad at all? Is he fit enough? Should Ancelotti have included him? Will he be a good influence in the camp?' - every injury update, every medical bulletin, every training-ground report has generated headlines.
The kind of attention - to be honest - that dwarfs his recent impact on the pitch, which has been limited by injuries and long absences.
For a player who hasn't represented the Selecao since 2023, and who has played just eight of 18 Brasileirao matches before the tournament, the scale of the discussion feels largely detached from footballing reality.
And that is precisely why Morocco should be delighted to let Brazil continue talking about him.
The Neymar debate has become the defining storyline of Brazil's World Cup build-up. Once upon a time, Mario Zagallo made the tough decision to cut inspirational Romario from the squad ahead of the 1998 World Cup - for the good of the collective - but Ancelotti has ultimately opted to commit himself to Neymar's potential impact at the tournament.
Yet the Italian now finds himself repeatedly answering questions about the forward rather than discussing other areas of his team.
Even as Brazil's preparations intensified, the conversation remained centred on Neymar's calf injury, his recovery timeline, and whether the coach had made the correct decision to include him.
Neymar's presence is increasingly being seen as more important than his availability, but perhaps that was Ancelotti's plan all along, to have the former Barcelona man attract all of the attention while the head coach gets on with the business of winning the World Cup.
Ancelotti is a pragmatist, rarely prone to sentimental decisions, so there must be a bigger vision behind him picking ageing Neymar ahead of, for example, Chelsea's 15-goal striker João Pedro.
Brazil's friendly victory over Panama on May 31 illustrated this phenomenon perfectly. The Selecao won 6-2, Vinicius Jr. was electric, others impressed, yet much of the post-match discussion revolved around Neymar's appearance at the Maracana, despite not being involved in the match.
He was applauded by supporters, attracted the focus of the cameras wherever he turned, and became the central figure of a match in which he did not participate.
The disconnect is striking, particularly for footballing royalty such as Brazil, who are not short of alternative superstars. Perhaps Neymar remains one of the greatest players in Brazilian history; he's their record goalscorer and achieved success at the highest levels of the game, but World Cups - as the Selecao know only too well - are won in the present, not in the past.
Brazil have a tendency to wrap themselves up in the promise of yesteryear, rather than the realities of today. It's not the first time a country that fixates on its glorious past has been guilty of this, and it won't be the last, but it's hard to see how it helps the Selecao if the Santos man is still perceived - based on legacy alone - as a key centrepiece of this team.
Discussions around the player increasingly become emotional, symbolic and nostalgic, rather than grounded in thecurrent performances of an injury-prone 34-year-old.
Perhaps this says more about Brazil's search for a modern footballing identity than Neymar himself, with Ancelotti - and his erroneous talk of the Selecao's 1994 winners playing four defensive midfielders - perhaps guilty of rewriting the team's past successes to justify his own tactical choices in 2026.
The fascination is understandable; Brazil spent more than a decade building its national-team narrative around Neymar. His injury on home soil, and then his absence for the semifinal against Germany - and that 7-1 mauling - remains a national trauma, and for a country desperately seeking a feel-good story, the forward still has unfinished business at the World Cup.
Yet this is a multi-talented squad - Vini, Bruno Guimarães, Casemiro, Matheus Cunha, the emerging Rayan - and the team possess enough quality to challenge anyone this summer, regardless of Neymar's condition.
This is why Morocco cannot join the conversation, even though the temptation exists - as head coach Mohamed Ouahbi demonstrated in his pre-match press conference on Saturday.
"Regarding Neymar, nothing changes for us," he began. "We prepared to face Brazil with Neymar, without Neymar... for them, perhaps something changes, because of his quality, we all know that.
"We analysed the last games, we saw the individual level of everyone," he continued. "They have players like Guimaraes, Casemiro, Cunha.
"Maybe they aren't the same size [as Neymar], but they move very well, play very well together. They have a lot of quality, but we also have good players."
It was a wise response.
It recognised Neymar's talent, without perpetuating the premise that Brazil begins and ends with him.
One danger for opponents could be that they become so focused on Neymar and the 'will he, won't he?' discussions that they overlook Brazil's actual threats. Ouahbi and his team appear determined not to fall into this trap.
Instead, he focused on Brazil as a collective rather than a single superstar, giving a fairer appraisal of the Selecao.
Could the Neymar obsession even help Morocco?
The more Brazil discuss personalities, individuals, the less the attention falls on the tactical development and the collective structure. Ancelotti has actively sought to reduce the disproportionate focus on Neymar, emphasising the squad's shared responsibility and collective identity.
He clearly understands that Brazil's future cannot depend upon a crocked 34-year-old, but can he convince everyone else? Ancelotti has found himself walking a tightrope between footballing logic and national sentiment, does he even understand - at this point - where football reason ends and emotional symbolism begins?
Morocco should let Brazil have these discussions on their own.
World Cups are full of distractions. Some teams create them, others inherit them, and others have distractions thrust upon them. Neymar's influence versus his effectiveness is falling into that category.
But Morocco, with late injury departures of nailed-on starters Noussair Mazraoui and Abde Ezzalzouli, must remember that distinction.
Let Brazil spend the final hours before Saturday's kickoff debating Neymar's fitness, whether he should start or not, his legacy and his future. Let columnists and TV analysts revisit past triumphs and old disappointments. Let supporters hang on his evert action.
Morocco have more important things to think about.
They are facing Brazil, not Neymar... and that difference could be crucial.
Additional reporting by Jean Santos.
