Brazil and Morocco open Group C in scoreless first-half clash at MetLife Stadium

Brazil and Morocco met overnight Saturday to Sunday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey in the first Group C match of the 2026 World Cup. Before kickoff, the game was billed as one of the most intriguing of the group stage, pitting the record World Cup winners against Morocco, the surprise team of the 2022 tournament after reaching the semifinals.

Carlo Ancelotti was coaching his first World Cup match and selected a star-heavy Brazil lineup. Gabriel and Marquinhos, who had just faced each other in the Champions League final weeks earlier, started in central defense, while the attack featured Raphinha, Vinicius and Igor Thiago, chosen ahead of Manchester United forward Matheus Cunha. Neymar was absent because of injury.

Morocco arrived with several unexpected call-ups and without some of the core players from its successful Qatar campaign. Abdessamad Ezzalzouli was ruled out at the last minute through injury, while Ibrahim Saibari, who impressed for PSV Eindhoven last season, and Brahim Diaz were both in the starting eleven.

The match had not yet begun when the lineup details were published, and the article listed Slavic Vinčić of Slovenia as the referee. In the group table, Brazil, Haiti, Morocco and Scotland all started level on zero points and no goals. The rest of Group C’s schedule includes Haiti against Scotland on June 14 in Boston, Scotland against Morocco and Brazil against Haiti on June 20, and Scotland against Brazil plus Morocco against Haiti on June 25.