Neymar Jr. retired from Brazil's national team on Saturday night, moments after the final whistle confirmed a 2-1 loss to Norway at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the same stadium where he made his international debut 16 years ago. He was 18 then.
He is 34 now. He sat on the pitch and cried until teammates came to pull him up.
"I tried," he said after the match. "It started here, at MetLife Stadium, and I finished here. It is now over."
The poetic geography of it is real. His first cap came against the United States at this same stadium on August 10, 2010.
He scored his first international goal that day, the one that surpassed Pelé's tally decades later. Brazil's all-time leading scorer with 82 goals ended his international career at the same place it began, in the same state, on the same grass.
Neymar played only two of Brazil's five World Cup matches due to a nagging right calf injury, 15 minutes against Scotland in the group stage and a substitute appearance Saturday against Norway in which he converted a late penalty in stoppage time. It was not enough.
Haaland's two goals in the final 12 minutes had already settled it.
He collapsed when the whistle went. Vinicius Jr. and Raphinha wrapped arms around him on the pitch. Captain Marquinhos spoke for the team afterward, asking Brazilian fans to be patient with the next generation now arriving to replace what Neymar represented for a decade and a half.
The next generation does not have his ceiling. It rarely does.