Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed he expects to be able to hand more minutes to winger Neymar in the team’s World Cup round-of-32 meeting with Japan on Monday.A calf injury picked up shortly before joining the Brazil camp kept Neymar sidelined for the first two games this summer, but he was fit enough to play 14 minutes off the bench against Scotland in Brazil’s final group game.Next on the agenda for Brazil is a tough test against Japan on Monday, in which Neymar could be set for a significant role.“In the last week, his progress has been significant,” Ancelotti proclaimed. “It’s a shame he couldn’t train with us the whole time he’s been with us, but he can obviously play more than 15 minutes [against Japan]. It depends on the context and how the game evolves.”Will Neymar Start for Brazil Against Japan?Ancelotti’s final statement on Neymar’s fitness seems to have revealed his role for Brazil in Monday’s game.With the boss looking at “how the game evolves,” it appears as though Ancelotti plans to start Neymar on the bench, perhaps bringing the 34-year-old on in the second half if Brazil would benefit from his quality in the final third.Ancelotti is wise to show caution when it comes to Neymar’s return. This latest injury was not particularly significant—he missed just over a month of action—but that has been a regular theme for Neymar since he missed almost an entire year with a nasty knee injury in 2023.After making his comeback from that knee injury in October 2024, Neymar has suffered no fewer than seven injuries, the vast majority of which have sidelined him for a similar period to his latest calf blow.WIN FIFA WORLD CUP 2026™ FINAL TICKETSCompete against the world. | SPORTS ILLUSTRATEDThrowing the Santos veteran back into the starting lineup of a huge fixture such as this one without giving him enough time to rebuild his match fitness would be an enormous risk that could easily send Neymar back to the sidelines if he is not ready.With that in mind, Neymar appears set to accept a substitute role for the vast majority of this tournament if Brazil progresses deep into the knockout stage, behind the likes of Vinicius Junior, Matheus Cunha, Rayan and Gabriel Martinelli in Ancelotti’s thinking.Should Brazil advance beyond Japan, its reward would be a meeting with either Côte d’Ivoire or Norway in the round of 16. England is a possible opponent for the quarterfinals.READ THE LATEST WORLD CUP NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT FROM SI FCAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow