FIFA World Cup 2026: Neymar mocks German economist who predicted Japan would beat Brazil: ‘Please try again at next…’

Brazilian forward Neymar Jr had an epic reply to a German economist, Joachim Klement, who predicted that Japan would beat them to qualify for the round of 32 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Brazil came back from 0-1 down to beat Japan 2-1 in Houston on Monday, sealing their berth in the round of 16 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Neymar's fitting reply to German economist

"Sr. Joachim Klement... favor tentar na proxima copa" ("Mr. Joachim Klement... please try again at the next World Cup") [sic]," Neymar, who recently returned from an injury, wrote on X. 

"Errou de novo (You messed up again)," the former Barcelona star replied to his own post on X.

Klement's prediction models for the 2014, 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups, though, have been spot on— the model predicted Germany, France and Argentina to win the 2014, 2018 and 2022 editions, and that is exactly what happened.

Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Klement predicted that Japan could stun Brazil if the two teams locked horns in the knockout stages.

"I don't make predictions about individual matches in the group stage, but I do predict that we might get a match between Brazil and Japan in the last 32 and that Japan will win against Brazil. That sounds absurd to me at first, because Brazil is the world's most successful team in history. Yet, the current generation of players is not at their best, while Japan has a very good team at the moment," he had said in an interview with Fortune India.

Japan, in fact, began the match on a strong note. Kaishu Sano gave the Japanese a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute, and the Asian giants, in fact, went into the half-time break with the lead safe in their hands.

However, the five-time champions equalized through a header from Casemiro in the 56th minute, and the big breakthrough came in the 95th minute, with Bruno Guimares sliding the ball into Gabriel Martinelli, who took a composed touch and unleashed a right-footed shot towards the far corner, thus beating Japan goalkeeper Zion Suzuki.

Suzuki managed to get a palm to the ball, but he could only deflect it onto the inside of the post before the ball squeezed over the line to seal a dramatic win for Brazil, who haven’t won the FIFA World Cup title since 2002.

Neymar returned from a Grade 2 calf muscle strain injury in Brazil's third group stage match against Scotland last week. He came on as a 76th-minute substitute in that match. He, however, did not play in Monday's round-of-32 clash against Japan.

Carlo Ancelotti's Brazil will next face either the Ivory Coast or Norway in the round of 16 at the New York-New Jersey Stadium on Sunday.