PHILADELPHIA — In front of a sold-out crowd of 68,324, Brazil started the process of getting things back on the right track with a 3-0 victory over Haiti in the 2026 World Cup group stage, but it’s a game that brings more worries than answers for Carlo Ancelotti as he looks to live up to the immense pressure that comes with managing the Selecao. The joy of Matheus Cunha’s brace was cancelled out by an injury to Raphinha as a game that started brightly for Brazil led to an uncomfortable finish. It’s also a match that saw Haiti become the first team eliminated from knockout contention due to already losing to Scotland.
It’s a hamstring injury for Raphinha and one that Ancelotti says will be assessed on Sunday, but after the match, Vinicius Junior expressed sadness for his teammate, who fought through injuries to be here after a challenging season with Barcelona. He also hopes that it’s nothing serious and that Raphinha will be able to continue the tournament with Brazil, and the squad very much needs him to find their balance.
Haitian fans started off the match cheering clearances like they were Jose Mourinho, but against a team with as much attacking talent as Brazil, that can only last so long. A first-half brace for Matheus Cunha vindicated Ancelotti’s changes, bringing the Manchester United man in for Igor Thiago and Danilo in for Roger Ibanez.
It took 23 minutes for Cunha to break through Haiti’s defense, but the second that happened, the floodgates opened in the match, with Brazil pouring it on and surfing their way through the game, but despite the crooked score, it could spell doom for their chances when it gets to the knockout stages of the tournament.
In the 40th minute, Raphinha was subbed out of the match with a non-contact injury, being replaced by Rayan. While it wasn’t a vintage performance with Raphinha getting a goal ruled out for being offside and failing to officially create a chance, the best attacking line for Brazil right now is Raphinha, Vinicius Junior, and Matheus Cunha, but losing part of that trio puts too much pressure on the others, and it showed in the second half.
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As the goals dried up, the Brazilian fans also got quieter; Vini Jr. pressed too much, leading to missed chances, and the carefully curated balance that Ancelotti needs for this squad to play to their potential went down the drain. The crowd erupted as Endrick put the ball in the back of the net, only to cut their celebrations short when the offside flag went up on the chance. Just like Brazil’s day, it was the right process that ended up yielding the wrong result.
One of the leaders in the side, Vini Jr., is aware of these missed chances, but trust in how Ancelotti wants the squad to set up could help change that moving forward. All it takes is back-to-back matches of multiple goals, and they could start putting things together.
“Depending on the game and very much on the opponent, today I played in a different position, where the coach asked me to play inside between the two center backs,” Vini Jr. said. “The truth is that I don’t play there very often, but whenever the coach asks me to, and says that I have to play there, I score goals, so I have to listen to him a lot more often. Surely, when I get to the locker room, he’ll say that he understands football very well.”
It’s clear that this is a flawed squad as they play with 25 men while hoping that Neymar can play a part in this tournament, but even with those flaws, chances went begging for Brazil that a cohesive unit would’ve taken care of. Now, on four points, Brazil are almost assured a place in the knockouts of the tournament, but unless they can iron out these issues, it will be a swift end to the World Cup once they get there.
Neymar could be returning soon as Ancelotti shed light on his status in his post-match press conference. With winning the group on the line, Brazil will need all the help they can get, and there’s a chance that Neymar could provide a lift as one creative player could now be missing out.
“Neymar will be training tomorrow individually, and then on Monday he will be training with the rest of the team. He will be available for the match against Scotland,” Ancelotti said.
There will be one more chance for tweaks in the final match of the group stage, as Brazil will face Scotland on June 24 with a chance to win the group.
