PRAIA GRANDE, Brazil — A Summer Games for children held its opening ceremony here Friday at the Neymar Jr. Institute, founded by that Brazilian soccer star, who has accepted two Olympian responsibilities.
The more public one involves the Rio Games, where Neymar, 24, will try to restore Brazil’s flagging soccer esteem. The country most synonymous with the sport has won five World Cups but never an Olympic gold medal. An opening 0-0 tie against South Africa on Thursday did nothing to heal lingering trauma from a devastating 7-1 loss to Germany at the 2014 World Cup, a national shame that even Neymar’s mother can refer to only euphemistically as “the situation.