Neymar is losing his battle to be fit for Brazil's first knock-out game in the World Cup - and fears are growing that his tournament may be over.
The Paris Saint-Germain forward will miss the clash with Cameroon this Thursday night and reports from South America suggest he will also be sidelined for his country's bid to reach the quarter-finals next week.
Brazil will face Portugal, Ghana, South Korea or Uruguay in the round of 16. The worry is that the ankle injury Neymar suffered in the opening game against Serbia is more serious than the slight sprain medics initially diagnosed and that there may be ligament damage.
If so, the best-case scenario would be a three-week absence and that would leave him with a race against time to make the final - if Brazil make it that far.
Neymar is still unable to do any serious weight-bearing exercises and has been limited to doing rehabilitation and conditioning work in the pool.
He has been having round-the-clock treatment since being kicked out of the Serbia game and has been having a combination of physiotherapy, cryotherapy and electrotherapy.
His return has continually been put back.
The initial prognosis was that Neymar could make the game against Cameroon.
That was then revised to Brazil's game in the last 16 - and the likelihood is that will now be too soon for him.
Brazil followed up their win over Serbia by beating Switzerland 1-0 to be assured of their progress.
Neymar had to watch the win over the Swiss from his hotel room after falling ill with a fever.
This is the World Cup where he was supposed to fulfil his destiny as one of Brazil's great players.
