What is the story about?
The
first Barcelona star in action in World Cup 2026 was Raphinha as the forward played all 90 minutes in Brazil’s 1-1 draw against Morocco at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey in Saturday’s Group C opener. The Seleção made a horrible start and fell behind to a Ismael Saibari goal, but Vinicius Jr. scored a fantastic equalizer to rescue a point for Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
Reactions & Observations
- The story of the game was Brazil’s midfield: the Seleção suffered mightily in the middle of the park in the first half, with all three of Casemiro, Lucas Paquetá and Bruno Guimarães well below par with their passing and intensity. Ancelotti’s halftime change to bring in Fabinho considerably changed things, and contributed to a much better second half as Brazil looked more organized and solid centrally.
- But the Seleção still played far worse than expected, and Vinicius’ great goal was the only real highlight of the game for the five-time champions. Raphinha had one shot on target almost 80 minutes into the contest that was comfortably saved by Bono, and the Barça man was too quiet and often isolated once he was moved to the striker position in the second half.
- Morocco have a much different and younger squad compared to the one that made the 2022 semi-finalists, but they looked just as good as they did four years ago. Achraf Hakimi was great at right-back, the midfield was excellent, and the high pressing made Brazil’s build-up phase very uncomfortable.
- Brazil have a much easier second game against Haiti on Friday to look for their first win, but they’ll need a lot more from Raphinha in that match and in the tournament going forward. Brazil are not big favorites but can still go deep if their two main stars shine, and Vinicius made a great and decisive contribution. Raphinha didn’t, and he’ll need to improve quickly.
