Neymar mocks German economist who predicted Japan would beat Brazil with savage social media post

Neymar poked fun at Klement after Brazil edged past Japan 2-1 to secure their place in the last 16 of the 2026 World Cup. The Santos star reacted on social media after the final whistle, referencing Klement's prediction that Japan would eliminate the five-time world champions.

Japan pushed Carlo Ancelotti's side throughout the last-32 tie and threatened to cause an upset. However, Brazil found the decisive goal late on when Rayan won possession high up the pitch before Bruno Guimaraes set up Gabriel Martinelli, who finished calmly to send the Selecao through.

Klement, a mathematician and economist, had attracted attention before the tournament after predicting that Japan would beat Brazil in the knockout stages. He based the forecast on his World Cup prediction model, which had previously identified the winners of the 2014, 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

Before the competition, Klement told Fortune India: "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."

After Brazil's victory, Neymar wrote on X: "Mr. Joachim Klement... please try again at the next World Cup."

The victory was not the end of the story for Neymar, who stayed active online to track Klement's other tournament forecasts. When the Netherlands, whom Klement had previously predicted would win the 2026 World Cup, lost on penalties to Morocco, the Brazilian forward returned to social media to further pressure the mathematician. Neymar posted a follow-up message saying: "You messed up again."

Brazil advances to the round of 16, where sterner opposition is likely to punish the defensive errors that surfaced against Japan. Ancelotti's side will now await the winner of either Ivory Coast or Norway as their opponents in that round.