The name is Neymar.

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior.

Or just, Neymar.

The most anticipated arrival to the soccer scene made his way Sunday night to the pantheons of Brazilian greats when he graced the pitch in Brazil’s opening round match against Venezula in the Copa America tournament being played in Argentina. Though the match ended in a disappointing 0-0 draw against Bolivia, Neymar was a central figure thorughout.

Neymar.

Yes Neymar.

Have you heard of him?

He’s the next Brazialian hero for all of soccer kind.

He is the next great Ronaldo.

Or Rivaldo

Or Adriano

Or Robinho

Or Ronaldinho

Or Cafu

Or Romario

Or may we even dare to mention the great Pele.

Yes Neymar.

He’s next in the great ine of South American soccer princes.

Neymar has been all but booked to be part of Real Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus, Manchester United, Chelsea…. The list goes on and on.

Yes Neymar, have you heard of him?

You can see him for the next few weeks Sport 5 live +, and plays again on Saturday night at 10pm against Paraguay.

Yes Neymar.

You’ll have to pay for the privilege to see him in Israel, but he’s supposed to be the next great thing.

Yes Neymar, playing in Argentina, yes the land of the soccer greats, Barcelona’s own Leo Messi.

Messi, is by far the most popular player in Israel and of course in the world.

Messi dazzles. Messi creates. Messi scores.

Messi is Messi.

Messi arguably the most talked about player of his generation.

However, the stage is set for the coming out party for the next great one.

Yes Neymar. With a 27 goals in 64 senior team appearances wit Santos, Neymar scores in bunches.

Look at his international appearances. Two of them. One against the United States, his first senior match for Brazil on the big stage, which he turned into his coming out party, yes with a goal in a 2-0 victory for Brazil.

Or how about the two he scored against Scotland in this past March in London.

Neymar. A petition of 14,000 tried to get him included on the 2010 Brazil World Cup Squad.

Dunga’s team. Even some of the greats mentioned above begged for Neymar to be included. But he was not.

This is now Neymar’s tournament.

This is Neymar’s chance to be in the spotlight.

This is the chance to see the potential match up between Messi and Neymar.

The Great One, against the Next One.

Will Neymar be on the backs of every Israeli youth like Messi and Ronaldo? (just ask my children! They already have both!)

Time will tell. But one thing is for sure. You can catch Neymar for the next few weeks.

And you will probably not be sorry.

Yes Neymar.

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior

Or just Neymar.

Have you heard of him?

If you haven’t, you in Israel, your children and the rest of the world will hear about him very very soon.

Yes, Neymar.