Brazil played its last game before the 2026 World Cup on Saturday night (6) and, as occurred in the duels that preceded the glorious campaigns of 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002, it won. At Huntington Bank Field, in Cleveland, the team triumphed over Egypt 2-1, goals from Bruno Guimarães and Endrick.
The midfielder and striker took advantage of two of the chances that appeared in a strategy that has worked in Carlo Ancelotti’s team, pressure in the attacking field. Between one move and another, there was a goal from the African team on a ball delivered by Marquinhos and a worrying injury to right-back Wesley.
The players will rest on Sunday (7) and will then begin the week of their debut in the World Cup, scheduled for next Saturday (13), against Morocco, in East Rutherford. In Group C of the tournament, the team will also face Haiti, on the 19th, in Philadelphia, and Scotland, on the 24th, in Miami Gardens.
In the friendly in Cleveland, as has often happened in the Ancelotti era, the marking in the attacking field was successful, in an attempt to steal the ball close to the area. In seven minutes of play, Brazil had already succeeded three times in this type of tackle, two of them with Ibañez. In the third, Bruno Guimarães took advantage of Lashin’s hesitation, faced the goal and finished well, in the left corner.
It didn’t take long, however, and the team wearing blue returned the gift. After a wrong pass from Casemiro, in the 11th minute, the ball ended up at the feet of Marquinhos, who made another mistake. In a clumsy retreat, the defender left Ziko face to face with Alisson, who was unable to prevent the equalizer.
There was then another worrying moment. At 16, Wesley put his hand on his left groin, felt pain and went to the bench with his head down, replaced by Danilo. The expectation is that he will undergo examinations upon the return of the yellow-green delegation to its North American base, in the New Jersey region.
The change did not change the tactical structure. Without the ball, Paquetá and Raphinha were on the wings, forming the second line of four markers with Casemiro and Bruno Guimarães. With it, they had the freedom to work in the center. The right lane was occupied by the full-back – Wesley, then Danilo –, and Vinicius Junior fell to the left wing.
Until midway through the first half, Brazil created more danger by stealing the ball than by exchanging passes. In the 20 minutes before the break, however, mainly due to the good work of Bruno Guimarães, chances began to emerge in collective construction moves.
If it weren’t for the notorious difficulties in controlling Igor Thiago – who received the ball twice in front of the goalkeeper and got in the way –, the South American team would have gone into the break with an advantage. Goalkeeper Shobeir also did well on shots from Vinicius Junior and Raphinha, maintaining equality on the scoreboard.
At the turn of the final stage, as he had done in the 6-2 defeat of Panama, Ancelotti changed almost everything – this time, Danilo, Douglas Santos and Raphinha remained on the field. And, as had happened in the previous friendly, the formation full of reserves didn’t take long to go to the net.
In the seventh minute, after a lost ball on the left wing, the team did what they have done so well, with pressure from Douglas Santos and Matheus Cunha. The ball went to Raphinha, who faced the marking, dodged the ball in front of him and passed it to Endrick, who finished in Shobeir’s left corner.
Alex Sandro and Martinelli also entered, watched for around half an hour by Ancelotti, who now saw everything he needed to see. Or almost everything, as he awaits Wesley’s exams and still has training to decide which Brazil will start the 2026 World Cup.
Brazil 2 x 1 Egypt
Brazil: Alisson (Weverton), Wesley (Danilo), Ibañez (Léo Pereira), Marquinhos (Bremer), Douglas Santos (Alex Sandro), Casemiro (Fabinho), Bruno Guimarães (Danilo Santos), Lucas Paquetá (Luiz Henrique), Raphinha (Gabriel Martinelli), Igor Thiago (Endrick) and Vini Junior (Matheus Cunha)
Egypt: Shobeir; Hany (Tarek Alaa), Fathi, Yasser Ibrahim, Fatouh (Hafez), Lasheen (Ashour), Attia (Zizo), Trézéguet (Abdelmonem), Zico (Adel), Hassan (Salah) and Marmoush (Abdelkarim)
Goals: Bruno Guimarães (6th, Brazil), Zico (10th, Egypt), Endrick (51st, Brazil)
Yellow cards: Marquinhos and Hany
Public: 64,311 spectators
Arbitrator: Adonai Escobedo (MEX)
Local: Huntington Bank Field, in Cleveland (USA)
