Brazil looks mortal against Morocco, settles for 1-1 draw

NYNJ Stadium opened its eight-game 2026 FIFA World Cup slate with an entertaining 1-1 draw between Brazil and Morocco. An early first half goal by Ismael Saibari gave the champions of Africa a lead, but a stunner by Vinícius Júnior seemingly gave the South Americans their mojo back.

An announced crowd of 80,663 saw a game that was nearly everything that could be expected from a meeting of the No 6 and No 7 (shut up about FIFA's rankings) ranked teams in the world.

A thrilling first half with the match's only goals led into a more methodical, evenly-matched second half, with Brazil coming into more of the chances, but unable to find a winner.

In the end, an entertaining start to the New York/New Jersey World Cup Experience.

Here's looking at you, Morocco

While the stadium filled in with a majority of yellow jerseys, the players in the red ones controlled the pace of this match. Morocco came out of the gate quick, not being overly awed or perturbed by the Brazilians.

Bruno Guimarães and Casemiro struggled to keep up with The Atlas Lions. Multiple times, a well-timed ball was passed through Brazil's midfield duo, forcing them to try and catch up.

Morocco broke through in the 21st minute. With space to work in the midfield, winger Brahim Díaz played an excellent through ball between both Brazilian center-backs toward Ismael Saibari. With only Brazil keeper Alisson Becker to beat, Saibari chipped over him while he was far off his line, putting the 2026 AFCON champions ahead 1-0 right before the game's first hydration break.

Bad passing in their own end also kept the Brazilians on their toes. Morocco was able to get quick chances on goal thanks to interceptions made before the halfway line. Deep positioning and a midfield that was afraid to push up allowed Morocco all the chances to play ahead.

Hakimi, again who is a right back, had the third most advanced average position of every Morocco player in the first half.

Morocco's 18-year-old midfielder, Ayyoub Bouaddi, had a star-making performance. In total, the teenager finished the day with:

• 91% pass accuracy (60/66)
• 100% pass accuracy in the final third (16/16)
• 6 ball recoveries
• 5 interceptions
• 9 duels won

In general, Brazil looked mortal. At times, Brazilian center-back Roger Ibañez floated up into the midfield with no set direction. Casemiro, late into tackles and allowing the ball past him on multiple occasions, left his backline vulnerable. These weaknesses gave Morocco the ability to dictate the majority of the first half.

Brazil against the run of play

Morocco's strength was in its attacking fluidity, but Brazil's overall star power brought with it some benefits.

A chance at the quarter-hour mark, where a weak header by Igor Thiago couldn't get a frame, looked like it could be the only real chance for the South Americans. Thiago of England's Brentford FC starting up front over Matheus Cunha or Endrick was a surprise call by Ancelotti, and it didn't really work.

Instead, a 32nd-minute life preserver was thrown the Seleção's way by Vinícius Júnior.

Viní dribbled up his preferred left side, feeding Bruno Guimarães near the top of the box, who played it back to Vinícius, who drove toward the end-line, beat his defender, then banged his shot it into the far-netting.

Morocco was the better team in the first half, but Brazil will always have that ability to strike back when they have someone like Vinícius Júnior. The team needed it, and scoring against the run of play started to shift the momentum back into Brazil's favor.

Slower second half

Carlo Ancelotti made two changes to his Brazil side at halftime: Fabinho for Casemiro, and Danilo on for center-back Roger Ibañez. The latter looked tired, out of pace, and caught off by Morocco multiple times in the first half. Meanwhile Fabinho coming on was a surprise considering he hasn't played top-flight (non-Saudi Pro League) football in a handful of years.

Still, those fresh legs are part of the reason why Morocco's first-half creativity and fluid play seemingly disappeared. The AFCON champs only started getting offensive runs into the Brazilian end a half hour into the second tilt.

Overall, Ancelotti made four changes before the 65th minute, which might be quietly damning for some of those players given the opportunity to be in Brazil's Starting XI. The Italian manager said after the match that roster positions can still change heading into Brazil's next game against Haiti.

Both teams wanted to score a second goal, but pass-around ended up being the name of the game in an even second half. After not getting up for most of the first half, perhaps the confidence built as Brazil pushed higher and higher in the second.

Brazil had a nice look on goal in the 77th minute when Raphinha sent a ball through a defender's legs, but it ended up right at Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou for an easy save.

With extended second-half stoppage time of 10 minutes, Brazil poised themselves to try and win it late and escape with three points. Raphinha pushed deep into Morocco territory, cutting back when he realized he didn't have a man to cross to before his long ball is deflected off target.

Three corner kicks in stoppage time, two for Brazil, with one seeing Danilo Santos fire low on target for another easy Bounou save.

For their part, Morocco didn't go away. A long shot that might have been going wide-right was initially saved by Alisson Becker, but with a loose rebound pounced on by by Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyab, forcing Alisson into another save.

Ancelotti and his group will be looking to regroup following the result, but Morocco looked confident throughout at NYNJ Stadium. There should be no surprise that they held one of the biggest, most feared teams in the world to a draw. Morocco looked assured and at times played some stellar stuff, which could carry them deep in the World Cup once again.