Brazil 3 Haiti 0
That’s more like it from Brazil. There was a huge pressure on Brazil heading into this game after a disappointing display against Morocco despite drawing the game in the end, they started off strong and looked dangerous against a Haiti team that weren’t just sitting back in the opening stages of the game. The Selecao did manage to take the lead in the 23rd minute as Vinicius Junior paced down the line shot straight at the keeper who’s parry was cleared by Delcroix onto Matheus Cunha who inadvertently opened the scoring for Brazil, it looked like a weight was lifted from the Brazilian players who looked dangerous in every attack and eventually doubled their lead in the 36th minute as Haiti gave the ball away in midfield to Paqueta who passed it onto Vinicius Junior who drove at the Haitian backline slipping in Matheus Cunha who fired a rocket into the roof of the net to put Brazil 2-0 up. Just before the break Brazil managed to get a third as Paqueta played a ball over the top to Vinicius Junior who was way too quick for the Haiti defenders and slid the ball under the Haiti goalkeeper to make sure of all three points for Brazil in the first half, Ancelotti made changes in the second half bringing on Endrick and Martinelli who really should have added a fourth or fifth but they saw out the clean sheet to get Brazil their first win of the tournament.
How much can we take from this Brazil result? I suppose it’s hard to know as I thought Haiti were really poor tonight and played into Brazil’s hands with a high line that Hansi Flick would have been proud of, saying that though Haiti did give Scotland a game last week and were unlucky to lose that game so they are a capable side. Ancelotti had to make changes after that first game and bringing in Matheus Cunha was common sense after Igor Thiago’s disastrous performance against Morocco, Cunha was absolutely brilliant today dropping in to link the midfield to attack and adding two goals as well despite getting a bit lucky with the first. The game suited Vinicius Junior perfectly with space to run into all night getting a goal and assist in a great performance, the one negative for Brazil would be the Raphinha injury which didn’t look good in the first half getting brought off for Rayan after what looked like a hamstring injury. Raphinha was already a doubt heading into this game and I hope for him and Brazil’s sake that he can still play a part in the tournament as they need him, who knows maybe we see the return of Neymar in the last game against Scotland?
A rough World Cup for Haiti so far. This result has all but ended Haiti’s tournament barring a miracle result against Morocco where they’ll need to beat the African nation by probably 3 or more goals to have a chance of going through which we know isn’t going to happen, it was always going to be tough for Haiti in a group with Brazil, Morocco and Scotland but I still think they can be proud of their performances so far. We’ve seen some of the smaller nations in this World Cup cause upsets so far but the lack of attacking threat in this Haitian team has meant that as soon as they concede their hope of getting any points is basically over as they can’t score a goal, the high-line was a strange choice considering they don’t have a sweeper keeper or a fast back-line and it allowed Brazil to be in on goal multiple times which easily could have led to 4 or 5 goals on another day. Their tournament is over but I hope they give the fans a goal to celebrate against Morocco in the last group game.
Injuries have cost Brazil dearly for this World Cup. It’s hard to ignore the sheer amount of injuries that Ancelotti has had to deal with in the lead up and during the tournament so far, before the tournament started the likes of Rodrygo and Estevao who would have been fighting to start suffered long-term injuries along with their starting right-back Wesley who was primed to have a strong tournament after a brilliant season with Roma. Now it looks like Raphinha might miss the rest of the tournament leaving Brazil’s squad thinner and thinner in terms of top-quality players, the Estevao injury in particular I think was overlooked by many in terms how damaging it is for this Brazil side as the Chelsea winger was starting every game for Brazil in the qualifiers and friendlies. I wonder what Ancelotti will do if Raphinha does miss the rest of the tournament? Is it a straight swap for Rayan or will he change system to accommodate Endrick or Neymar? I suppose we’ll see against Scotland.
What has this result done for the group? With Morocco winning earlier on it looks like they are fighting it out with Brazil for 1st place which we did expect before the tournament, Morocco face Haiti in the last game whilst Brazil face Scotland with the Scots fighting for their lives to stay in the tournament. Goal-difference will probably decide who finishes top of the group if both teams win so Morocco will need to be ruthless against Haiti to try and finish 1st, Scotland need a point against Brazil to make sure of qualifying for the Round of 32 but three points might be enough depending on goal-difference. It’s still all to play for but that Brazil vs Scotland game should be a cracker next week, lets hope so.