neymar CHAPTER 1 SPOTTED AT AN EARLY AGE neymar limped slightly He had injured his leg earlier in the game It still bothered him His Brazil national team was facing Germany It was the final of the 2016 Olympics And it was at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro This was the home of soccer in Brazil The match had gone to a penalty shootout And now it was Neymar's turn He put the ball on the penalty spot Brazilian goalkeeper Weverton had just Neymar kisses the ball just before taking the decisive penalty kick at the 2016 Summer Olympics final Spotted at an Early Age
Neymar left celebrates with Brazil teammate Weverton after his gold medal winning penalty kick blocked an attempt by Nils Petersen of Germany It was up to Neymar If he scored Brazil would win the Olympic gold medal Neymar took a few steps back He stood inside the penalty arc He took a few steps to his left The referee blew his whistle Neymar ran up to the ball He paused before picking up speed German goalkeeper Timo Horn had to make a move He dived low to his right to block the shot But Neymar had shot the other way The ball rocketed high into the left corner of the net Neymar dropped to his knees He pointed to the sky with both hands Teammates ran up and surrounded him They were Olympic gold medalists 6 Neymar
Neymar da Silva Santos Jr was born on February 5 1992 His father was a pro soccer player in the Brazilian city of Mogi das Cruzes It is a city of approximately 400 000 people It is about 25 miles 40 km from Brazil's largest city of São Paulo Neymar Sr wasn't a star His playing career lasted only a few years When he retired he took his family back to his hometown of São Vicente They moved in with Neymar Sr's parents Neymar Sr worked three jobs He was an auto mechanic a bricklayer and he worked for the city His wife worked as a cook She also took care of their children Neymar Jr played soccer whenever he could Sometimes that meant playing in the streets He and his friends didn't always have a real ball So they used a small rock They marked the goal with shoes It didn't matter what they had They just wanted to play Brazilians often have two last names Neymar's first da Silva is his mother's last name The second Santos is his father's last name To make it simple many Brazilians like Neymar are known by one name or a nickname Spotted at an Early Age
