Matheus Cunha announced himself to the world on Sunday, and now Brazil carry real momentum into what might be Group C's decisive match. The Neymar question hangs over everything.
Yesterday's Results
Brazil 3-0 Haiti — Group C, Philadelphia Stadium
Brazil needed a response after their flat opening draw with Morocco, and they delivered one in emphatic fashion. Matheus Cunha scored twice in the first half — the first a composed finish after Vinícius's curling effort was parried, the second a thunderous strike after Haiti lost the ball in midfield — before Vinícius Júnior capped the rout with a clinical slot past Johny Placide in first-half stoppage time. The Guardian's match report captures how one-sided the opening 45 minutes were: shots 7-0 at half-time, Haiti's high defensive line repeatedly carved apart by the pace of Brazil's front three. The second half was quieter, with Alisson making a point-blank save to deny Haiti their first World Cup goal since 1974, and Raphinha's early exit with what looked like a hamstring injury casting the only shadow over an otherwise confident performance. Haiti, who had lost to Scotland in their opener, are now eliminated from the group stage. Brazil move top of Group C.
Today's Fixtures
Scotland vs Brazil — Group C, 22:00 GMT / 17:00 EST (24 June 2026)
Note: per the match data, this fixture is scheduled for 24 June — two days from now — so today's card is light. But with Brazil having just put three past Haiti and Scotland sitting top of Group C after their opening win, this is the match the whole group has been building toward, and the storylines are already fully formed.
Watch for: whether Neymar is fit enough to feature. Ancelotti has indicated he expects his number 10 back for this one, and Scotland defender Jack Hendry said this week he is "not worried" about facing him — which is exactly the kind of thing you say when you are, at least a little bit, worried. Scotland will need to be organized and physical; Brazil, buoyed by Cunha's form and Vinícius's sharpness, will be looking to confirm that the Haiti performance was a statement rather than a fluke.
Around the Tournament
Neymar's calf, and the waiting game. The biggest subplot in Group C is whether Brazil's all-time top scorer takes the field against Scotland. AP News reports that Ancelotti expects Neymar back for the Scotland match, while a separate AP report on further tests on his injured right calf underlines that nothing is confirmed yet. Brazil looked sharp without him against Haiti, but Paquetá has already welcomed the prospect of Neymar's return — the creative question is whether Ancelotti slots him in and disrupts a front three that just clicked, or keeps faith with what worked.
Cunha and Paquetá climbing the rankings. FIFA's Power Rankings update after the second round of group games shows Matheus Cunha surging 174 places to 11th in the Attacking rankings, while Lucas Paquetá made significant gains in the Creativity category. Cunha outperformed his xG by +0.83 against Haiti, which is the kind of number that tells you the goals weren't lucky — he was in the right places and finished when it mattered. For a player who came into this tournament without a guaranteed starting spot, that's a serious statement.
The 4-4-2 is back, and Brazil are part of it. BBC Sport's tactical breakdown of the tournament's early trends identifies the return of the 4-4-2 mid-block as one of the defining features of the group stage, with Brazil, Morocco, Scotland, and Haiti all using variants of it out of possession. The piece notes that teams defending in this shape leave spaces between the lines — exactly the spaces Cunha and Vinícius exploited against Haiti. Scotland will have watched that film closely.
When Neymar's name appears on the Brazil teamsheet Wednesday evening, the noise inside that stadium is going to be something. And if it doesn't — if Ancelotti sticks with the front three that just dismantled Haiti — that's its own kind of statement about how far this team has come without him.