Neymar has been confirmed to have suffered a calf injury that may see him miss Brazil’s 2026 World Cup opener against Morocco.The Brazilian legend was in floods of tears as he was called up for the tournament after going through many serious fitness problems.Neymar’s chances of playing at the World Cup have taken a late hitGettyHowever, yet another issue has come at just the wrong time, meaning his desperate World Cup hopes are still being threatened.Neymar hasn’t played since May 17 and his calf injury appears to be worse than first feared, ruling him out for multiple weeks.Brazil’s doctor, Rodrigo Lasmar, revealed on Thursday: “Neymar reported for duty yesterday at Granja Comary [training centre], underwent all the medical tests, and we finished with an MRI scan, which revealed a grade 2 muscle strain.“The player is continuing his treatment, and we expect him to be cleared to play in two to three weeks.”It means the 34-year-old will not be able to play in Brazil’s pre-World Cup friendlies against Panama and Egypt.His injury has also thrown his participation in their first game of the tournament against Morocco on June 13 into huge doubt.And talkSPORT’s South American football expert Tim Vickery is now worried about Neymar failing to feature at all.A huge decisionVickery provided some extra detail on the forward’s situation on the Hawksbee and Baker show, as he said: “Brazil have a real decision to take now. A real decision. His club, Santos, had said he was all right.“So Brazil then did some tests and it didn’t look good. And they took him off to a private clinic. They shut down the clinic, no-one else was allowed in the clinic. All the doctors concerned had to sign a degree, a statement of confidentiality so it wouldn’t leak.”He added: “Now there’s a big decision to take here because Carlo Ancelotti, the line had always been, I’m not going to take anyone who’s not fit, who’s not ready to play 90 minutes game after game.Vickery thinks Ancelotti could end up changing his mind on NeymarAFP“He relaxed that a little bit for Neymar, but he said just like ten days ago, when he called up the squad, he said, ‘Well, Neymar’s got a few more weeks to improve his physical condition.’“Now he hasn’t, that physical condition is going to go in the other direction. So there’s a decision to take here. I wonder what they’ll do. “I wonder if they’ll bite the bullet and decide, ‘No, we tried, but it hasn’t worked’, or if they’ll think, ‘Well, it’s a long competition, we’ve got 26, maybe you can afford to carry a wildcard and we’ll allow him to get fit during the course of.’“But I think that second course of action is looking increasingly reckless because, as was quite clear from Ancelotti, what he said in his body language, Neymar’s form recently… the only good thing you can say is that he has been able to play most of Santos games.“The form itself really hasn’t been great. Just the odd little moments, but none of the usual, the old explosion, the balance… still striking the ball extremely well, but the hope was that he could use this time to get himself up to speed.“And now he’s using this time to try and shake off an injury, which is more serious than his club said. We’re waiting for the statement from his club, because at the moment it’s looking like the doctors at Santos were frankly economical with the truth.”Pedro may end up having a potential late switch work in his favourGettyWho could replace Neymar? If Neymar were to pull out of the World Cup, in a nightmare scenario for Brazil, who would come in to take his place? Well, Joao Pedro may end up having his dream reignited. Chelsea‘s Player of the Season was a shock omission from Ancelotti’s squad, having scored 20 goals this campaign.But he may end up getting a call-up after all, with talkSPORT host Paul Hawksbee asking: “Is that good news for Joao Pedro? They’re going to call him off of his holidays, you think?”To which Vickery replied: “Yes, Ancelotti made it very clear that Joao Pedro deserved to be in the squad.“So I’d imagine [he’ll hope to be called up]… but I’m not going to accuse him of sticking needles and pins into Neymar’s calf muscle.“He’d said he was really hopeful that Neymar would make the squad, probably before he’d realised the full implications of that statement.”