The heartbreak of losing a World Cup knockout stage match takes a toll on some players. The toll Brazil's 2022 quarterfinal loss to Croatia took on Neymar is something to behold, as the PSG star revealed the emotions he went through after the brutal defeat.

“I can't tell you what went through my head,” Neymar told YouTuber Casimiro. “It was the most painful defeat of my career, for sure. I cried for five straight days. It hurt me a lot that my dream had turned to nothing. It was the worst moment of my life. It felt like a funeral, someone crying on one side of you, someone else crying on the other. It was horrible, a feeling I don't want to experience that again.”

Neymar scored Brazil's only goal in the 1-1 penalty shootout defeat. It adds to their previous unspeakable World Cup losses, including another quarterfinal defeat in 2018 and the 7-1 embarrassment at the hands of Germany in 2014. Those are losses that stay with a player far longer than the day after the game.

Neymar remains one of the best players in the world for PSG but has yet to feature for Brazil since its World Cup defeat. He has not formally announced his retirement from international football and is speaking like a man who will don the Brazil kit again.

It is hard to imagine a 2026 World Cup without Neymar with Brazil, but that could be a reality in a couple of years. If he truly can’t take another heartbreaking loss, why subject himself to the possibility of it?