Brazil Held, Qatar Stuns Switzerland, Scotland Scrapes Past Haiti in World Cup 2026 Night of Surprises

The first full night of matches at the 2026 World Cup brought few one-sided games and several shocks, showing again how narrow the global football gap has become. Brazil was held to a 1-1 draw by Morocco, Qatar earned a dramatic 1-1 result against Switzerland, and Scotland needed a narrow win over Haiti. The tournament is set to continue through the morning, night and the following day.

In Brazil's first World Cup match under Carlo Ancelotti, Morocco struck first through Ismaeil Saibari in the 21st minute. Vinicius Junior rescued Brazil with an equalizer in the 32nd minute. Neymar, who is injured, was not in the squad and may return for the second round match against Haiti in six days.

Qatar, which is playing in its first World Cup after qualifying through the playoffs and hosted the previous edition, looked ineffective in the first half and fell behind to a 17th-minute penalty by Breel Embolo. Switzerland pressed for a second goal but failed to finish its chances, and Boualem Khoukhi scored a 95th-minute equalizer to give Qatar a historic point.

Scotland, which is appearing at its first World Cup since 1998, defeated Haiti 1-0 despite expectations of a bigger margin. Haiti, one of the weakest teams in the tournament and back at the World Cup for the first time since 1973, started Frantzdy Pierrot, a former Maccabi Haifa player, for the full 90 minutes. John McGinn scored the only goal in the 28th minute.