By SCM SPORT REPORTER At the MetLife Stadium, New Jersey
CARLO ANCELOTTI’S World Cup dream nearly turned into a New Jersey nightmare last night as five-time champions Brazil were thoroughly out-sambaed by a magnificent Morocco.
On a scorching evening where an 80,663 crowd turned the MetLife Stadium into a sea of canary yellow, it was the African heavyweights who brought the real flavor to the pitch.
Real Madrid superstar Vinicius Junior salvaged a 1-1 draw for the Seleção, but the night belonged to the relentless tactical masterclass of the Atlas Lions.
Without the injured Neymar watching from the sidelines with a torn calf, Brazil looked utterly toothless early on.
Ancelotti, becoming the first foreign coach to lead the footballing giants into a World Cup, sweated through his three-piece suit as Morocco unleashed an astonishing 12 shots in the opening thirty minutes.
And the pressure cracked the Samba defense wide open on 21 minutes.
West Ham’s Lucas Paquetá made a total hash of a short pass from Roger Ibañez, coughing up possession to the buzzing Moroccans.
Real Madrid’s own Brahim Díaz—playing like a man possessed against his clubmates—sliced open the Brazilian backline with a world-class through ball.
Ismael Saibari raced onto the pass, spotted a sluggish Alisson Becker hesitant on his line, and calmly chipped the ball over the Liverpool goalkeeper to send the pocket of Moroccan fans into absolute delirium.
Brazil looked completely rattled, but when you have the world’s most lethal winger, you are never out of the game.
In the 32nd minute, the Ballon d’Or contender took matters into his own hands. Exchanging sharp, short passes with Newcastle’s Bruno Guimarães down the left flank, Vini cut inside, danced past Neil El Aynaoui, and rifled a majestic right-footed missile past the despairing dive of Yassine Bounou.
It was his 10th international goal, and it single-handedly injected life back into a deflated Brazil.
”We started on a really bad note,” Vinicius admitted afterwards. “For certain, we have got to hold onto the ball. We have to move better.”
Ancelotti rang the changes at half-time, throwing on Fabinho and Danilo to steady the rocking ship.
While Brazil controlled the possession in a stop-start second half, they could never truly kill off the North African spirit.
In fact, it was Morocco who almost pulled off the heist of the century in the ninth minute of a grueling 10-minute stoppage time.
Alisson shockingly spilled a speculative long-range effort from El Aynaoui. With the ball loose and the goal gaping, the Liverpool stopper had to produce a miraculous, desperate claw from the turf to block Ayoube Amaimouni’s follow-up.
The breathless draw means Brazil painfully extend their historic unbeaten run in World Cup opening matches to 21 games dating back to 1934—but Ancelotti knows his star-studded side got out of jail.
”The team was a bit anxious at the beginning. Nerves were all over the place,” Ancelotti concluded. “But you don’t win a World Cup based on your first match.”
