Latin America Sports Daily for Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Brazil held their first full collective training session at the Columbia Park Training Facility in Morris Township, New Jersey on Tuesday, with all 26 players on the pitch for the first time since the squad assembled.

Ancelotti ended the Neymar replacement debate definitively: “The 26 players I chose are the ones who will play in the World Cup.”

On the eve of the NBA Finals, Mitchell Robinson practiced in San Antonio on Tuesday despite his fractured right pinkie, and a Shams Charania report clarified that he broke it “in his house while the Knicks were off.”

Game 1 of the NBA Finals tips off tonight at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio at 8:30 PM ET on ABC: Spurs vs Knicks, the 1999 rematch, Game 1 of the series that will share the calendar with the World Cup.

All 48 World Cup squads were officially registered by Tuesday’s June 2 FIFA deadline.

As always, The Rio Times covers Latin America’s full sports landscape.

03

All 48 Squads Locked In: The Six South American Nations Head to Their World Cup Bases

World Cup

The FIFA registration deadline of Tuesday June 2 has passed, meaning no player outside the confirmed 26-man lists can take part in the tournament, except as a like-for-like replacement for a serious injury, authorised up to 24 hours before a team’s first match.

Six South American nations are in the field, with their base camps and opening fixtures now confirmed.

Brazil

Base: Columbia Park Training Facility, Morris Township NJ. Group C: Morocco (Jun 13, NJ), Haiti (Jun 19, Philadelphia), Scotland (Jun 24, Miami).

Argentina

Base: Atlanta United Training Center, Atlanta.

Group J: Algeria (Jun 16, Atlanta), Austria (Jun 21, Houston), Jordan (Jun 25, TBC).

Messi leads the defending champions into his record sixth World Cup.

Colombia

Base: Atlas AGA Academy, Guadalajara.

Group K: Uzbekistan (Jun 17, Mexico City), Portugal (Jun 23, Houston), DR Congo (Jun 27, Atlanta).

Key correction: Luis Díaz is registered as a Bayern Munich player, not PSG as stated in earlier editions of this column; he moved clubs before the end of the European season.

Ecuador

Base: Columbus Crew Performance Centre, Columbus OH.

Group E: Ivory Coast (Jun 14, Mexico City), Germany (Jun 19, TBC), Curaçao (Jun 23, TBC).

Willian Pacho and Moisés Caicedo lead the squad after Pacho’s Champions League triumph with PSG.

Uruguay

Base: Mayakoba Training Center, Riviera Maya, Mexico.

Group H: Saudi Arabia (Jun 15, Miami), Cape Verde (Jun 21, Miami), Spain (Jun 26, Guadalajara).

Darwin Núñez leads the attack under Marcelo Bielsa.

Paraguay

Base: Atlanta United Training Center, Atlanta.

Group D: United States (Jun 15, Kansas City), Australia (Jun 19, Boston), Türkiye (Jun 24, Dallas).

Paraguay make their World Cup debut under coach Daniel Garnero, who also guided Universidad Católica’s Copa Libertadores run this season.

04

Two Corrections: Luis Díaz’s Club and Brazil’s Base Camp Name

Corrections

Luis Díaz’s club: Multiple editions of this column described Luis Díaz as a PSG player and included him in coverage of the Champions League final on May 30.

The official Colombia World Cup squad registered by FIFA confirms Díaz as a Bayern Munich player. He moved clubs before the end of the European season; the timeline of that transfer places him outside PSG’s Champions League squad for the Budapest final, meaning his inclusion in our UCL final coverage was incorrect.

We regret the error and have updated his club affiliation accordingly in all subsequent references.

Brazil’s base camp name: We referred to Brazil’s NJ base as being in “Harrison” across several editions. The correct name and location is the Columbia Park Training Facility in Morris Township, NJ, the New York Red Bulls’ performance centre, renamed for the tournament.

The facility sits on 80 acres in Morris County, includes eight full-size pitches and advanced analytics infrastructure, and was selected by the CBF partly for its proximity to MetLife Stadium and Lincoln Financial Field.

Ancelotti called it “new, modern, and offering all the conditions for our work” at the announcement in May.

05

The Series That Will Share the Calendar With the World Cup: Three Matchups That Will Decide the NBA Finals

Analysis

The NBA Finals run from June 3 to as late as June 19, a schedule that overlaps almost entirely with the World Cup group stage.

Game 5, if needed, falls on June 13: the same date as Brazil vs Morocco.

Matchup 1: Wembanyama vs Robinson/Towns. Wembanyama averaged 27.3 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks per game in the Western Conference Finals.

With Robinson expected to play but with minutes managed, the Knicks will likely alternate between him and Karl-Anthony Towns as the primary Wembanyama defender, a two-big rotation that gives New York flexibility Towns’s shooting opens.

Matchup 2: Brunson vs Fox. Jalen Brunson averaged 27.1 points in the postseason; De’Aaron Fox averaged 19.6.

Fox’s ankle condition could be the variable that shifts the series: in the WCF games where he was fully fit, he averaged 22.4 points and the Spurs went 4-2; in the two games he was least impactful, OKC won by a combined 51 points.

Matchup 3: Spurs youth vs Knicks experience. No Spurs player outside Harrison Barnes had played more than seven playoff games before this run, while the Knicks have postseason veterans throughout.

The counter-argument is that Wembanyama and Stephon Castle have consistently performed better under pressure as the series has lengthened, the opposite of what fatigue normally does to young players.

ESPN’s survey of coaches, scouts, and executives leaned toward the Spurs in six or seven, with Wembanyama’s defensive impact cited as the factor New York “simply doesn’t have an answer for.”

Game 1 is tonight at 8:30 PM ET in San Antonio.

06

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ

Has Ancelotti confirmed Neymar will stay in Brazil’s World Cup squad?

Yes, definitively. At Brazil’s first training session at the Columbia Park Facility in Morris Township NJ on June 2, Ancelotti stated: “The 26 players I chose are the ones who will play in the World Cup.”

He also specified a tiered return plan: “We expect Neymar in the first World Cup match against Morocco; if he can’t make it, we’ll wait for the second game” (Haiti on June 19 in Philadelphia). The CBF’s published rehabilitation protocol has Neymar returning to contact training no earlier than June 10, three days before the Morocco game.

Where is Brazil training for the 2026 World Cup?

Brazil’s base camp is the Columbia Park Training Facility in Morris Township, New Jersey, the New York Red Bulls’ performance centre, renamed for the tournament.

The 80-acre facility has eight full-size pitches, a medical suite, and advanced player tracking technology. Previous editions of this column incorrectly referred to the base as being in “Harrison”; the correct location is Morris Township, Morris County, NJ. Brazil’s World Cup schedule: June 13 vs Morocco (New York-New Jersey Stadium, East Rutherford); June 19 vs Haiti (Lincoln Financial, Philadelphia); June 24 vs Scotland (Hard Rock Stadium, Miami).

What club does Luis Díaz play for at the 2026 World Cup?

Colombia’s official FIFA-registered World Cup squad confirms Luis Díaz’s club as Bayern Munich.

Previous editions of this column incorrectly described him as a PSG player and placed him in PSG’s Champions League final squad on May 30; that was an error, as confirmed by ESPN’s June 2 squad tracker, Sky Sports, and the official FIFA registration. Colombia open Group K play on June 17 against Uzbekistan at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.