The start of Brazil’s debut at the 2026 World Cup was everything that coach Carlo Ancelotti didn’t want: nerves, mistakes and total dominance by Morocco at the MetLife stadium, in East Rutherford, on the outskirts of New York. Even so, the duel ended in a 1-1 draw.
After the poor start, in which they received a beautiful goal from Saibari and could have scored more, the team managed to balance their actions and equalized the score in the first half, in a characteristic move by Vinicius Junior on the left. Another beautiful goal.
After missing many chances, the Moroccan team slowed down after the break, and the Brazilian team improved a little with some of their substitutions — Danilo and Fabinho entered, then Luiz Henrique, Matheus Cunha and Danilo Santos. But the score did not change again.
Vini Junior received the trophy for best player of the match, despite only having one shot on target, precisely the goal.
Haiti 0 x 1 Scotland
In the other Group C game, Haiti tried but failed to open the scoring in their first World Cup match in 52 years. On Saturday night, the Caribbean team lost 1-0 to Scotland at Gillette Stadium, in Foxborough, Boston (USA).
Midfielder John McGinn, Europa League champion with Aston Villa, scored the Scottish winning goal, which came in the 27th minute of the first half.
The European team had not played in a World Cup since 1998 and recorded their first World Cup victory since 1990, when they defeated Sweden in the group stage.
With the result, Scotland leads Group C with 3 points, followed by Morocco and Brazil, with 1, and Haiti, zero.
The Caribbean team is Brazil’s next opponent in the World Cup, in a game on Friday (19), at 9:30 pm, Brasília time. The match will be played in Philadelphia. Against Scotland, the Brazilian team plays on the 24th, at 7pm, in Miami.
In the first game of the day, Breel Embolo repeated a script he already knew, but experienced a different outcome.
Scorer of Switzerland’s winning goal over Cameroon in the 2022 World Cup opener, the striker once again opened the scoring on his debut, but Khoukhi managed to equalize for Qatar in second-half stoppage time.
The match ended 1-1 at Levi’s Stadium, in Santa Clara (California), in the first round of Group B.
Khoukhi’s equalizer came 49 minutes into the second half. The Qatari team arrived on the left side of the attack and lifted the ball into the area. The defender jumped a little more than Muheim and headed with power, with no chance of saving for goalkeeper Kobel.
This was the first point won by Qatar in the history of the World Cup. In 2022, when they were hosts, the team suffered defeats to Ecuador, Senegal and the Netherlands and only scored one goal.
The biggest surprise of the day occurred precisely in the last confrontation, in the early hours of this Sunday (14).
Australia suffered a bombardment from Türkiye, but won 2-0 in Vancouver, showing solid defense and a quick, surgical attack.
The goals were scored by striker Irankunda, in the first half, and midfielder Metcalfe, in the second.
The Turks pressed throughout the match, shooting 30 times on goal compared to just 9 for the Australians. However, they stopped at defenders or 22-year-old goalkeeper Beach, who made at least three difficult saves in the second half.
With the result, Group D has the United States in the lead with 3 points and 3 goal difference, ahead of Australia, with 3 points and 2 goal difference. Turkey is in third place and Paraguay is in fourth, both zero.
