Why despite Matheus Cunha’s goals Brazil have problems to address

Like the second goal — a brutish left-footed finish, like the clank of a machete. Even before Vinicius Junior had gathered the ball from a Casemiro clearance, he had begun to gallop. Vinicius wove an eye-of-the-needle through-ball. Two touches took him away from the goal; a third would have given the balance, but it could have afforded more time to the retreating Haitian defenders to snatch the ball off his toes. So in a split second, he decided to leather the ball into the top left corner past the goalkeeper Johny Placide, slightly off-balance and on the floor after the strike. He dragged himself back to the feet, and then he plunged to the dewy turf, flapping his arms.

Un-Brazilian goal

But the scrappier goal pleased the manager Carlo Ancelotti more. It not only settled the mounting nervousness, but also vindicated his decision to reinstate Cunha, a decoy number nine in place of the centre forward Igor Thiago. Cunha has understated virtues that makes him a manager’s favourite. He runs hard, back and forth, he is quick, drops deep to help out the midfielders and defenders, tackles (sometimes over-zealously), and brings raw energy. The first goal also originated from Cunha’s industriousness, him wrestling the ball back from Haitians in the midfield before bombing upfront. Then, he waited for Vinicius’s cross. It was half cleared, but the Manchester United forward sprang to regain the ball and scramble it past the goal-line. He is a flashier Firmino, the Liverpool workhorse forward that performed the midfield chores invisibly and intelligently.

The goal was un-Brazilian, but timely. Anxiety nearly muted the yellow wave under stands canopied like the wings of an eagle, an ode to the local soccer team Philadelphia Eagles. But Brazil could breathe. The fans frolicked in the vast stands, hooting their miniature vuvuzelas, which had made a shrieking comeback in the tournament. After the game, the fans stayed back and rendered the national anthem with pounding passion. But were they fully content with their team’s display? Perhaps not.

But the passage before the 23rd minute strike would bother Brazil. It seemed a rerun of their Morocco game in its turgid discordance. They could neither muster a coherent move nor assert themselves on their plucky counterparts, who were content in rolling the shutters down on the box, but counterattacked briskly when they offered with a sniff. Brazil were still lethargic in the midfield and toothless in the final third.

Steadily, the jarring chords un-jarred; notes and tempo fell in place. And then came the second goal, an electric dance, Cunha joined by his teammates. Celebration set in more feverishly. Vinicius, who enjoyed one of his finest nights in the Brazilian shirt, tucked in the third before half time. A regulation finish by his standards, from a ferocious hoof on half-turn by Luis Pacqueta, whose bluntness had worried Brazil.

The second half was a scrap, strewn with phases wherein Haiti slashed their back-line, but let down by horrendous finishing and nervous feet. Brazil’s forwards knocked on Haiti’s doors numerous times, but without the dead-eye finishing that would have added heft to their victory.

Brazil’s Matheus Cunha (9) scores their second goal against Haiti goalkeeper Johny Placide (1) during the World Cup Group C soccer match between Brazil and Haiti in Philadelphia, Friday, June 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Defensive susceptibility could cost the tournament. The malaise is two fold. Their full-backs are sluggish, neither play-making like modern full-backs not defending like the old-school one. Two high-class defenders, Marquinhos and Gabriel, put on rigorous shifts, but their duties are made tougher by a double pivot that has lost its legs. Both Casemiro and Bruno Guimares are not press-resistant in the modern sense. They are excellent in positional play and one-on-one situations, but they could be over-run. In short, Gabriel and Marquinhos have to control large swathes of their territory. A quicker, heavy-metal pressing team could torment them deeper.

In short, though Brazil netted three goals, they are still reliant on moments of individual genius. A Vinicius moment; or a Cunha burst; or a reassuring Gabriel header; or a Marquinhos clearance. Worse, they lost forward Raphinha to an injury in the first half, even though Endrick and Gabriel Martinelli looked fluid. The goals arrived, as did the dance moves, but not the cohesion or finesse that could end their long wait for what the fans call the “divine sixth”.