Right after Brazil came from behind to eliminate Japan to enter the round of 16 at the 2026 World Cup, Neymar immediately posted a highly sarcastic message aimed at the mathematician who had predicted the “Selecao” would be eliminated.
On the morning of June 30, Brazil entered the round of 16 at the 2026 World Cup by dramatically winning 2-1 from behind against Japan. Despite not being brought onto the pitch by coach Carlo Ancelotti, Neymar quickly spoke out after the match. On X, the 34-year-old superstar posted a short but highly suggestive status: “Mr. Joachim Klement. See you predicting again at the next World Cup”.
The post immediately took social media by storm, attracting nearly 6 million views in just a short time, becoming a topic of lively discussion among fans.
Prior to the 2026 World Cup, the German mathematician used a statistical model to predict the tournament results. Although accurately assessing that Brazil would top Group C, he believed that Japan would defeat the Selecao in the round of 32.
Klement’s model was built based on many factors such as GDP per capita, population size, the level of football development in each country, and the FIFA rankings. This mathematician was once famous for accurately predicting three consecutive World Cup champions, including Germany in 2014, France in 2018, and Argentina in 2022.
At the 2026 World Cup, Klement continued to draw attention when predicting that the Netherlands would be crowned champions for the first time. However, many scenarios in his model soon fell apart as the actual results in the knockout round no longer matched the initial forecast.
Klement himself also admitted that his predictions are not certain. He likened forecasting the World Cup champion to flipping a coin or playing the lottery and affirmed that no one should place bets based solely on those calculations.
As for Neymar, the Brazilian forward has only played 14 minutes at the 2026 World Cup. Coach Ancelotti explained that he did not use the former Barcelona star against Japan because he wanted to maintain the squad structure while Brazil was in complete control of the match.
