East Rutherford, Jun 14: Samba soccer this wasn’t. Facing pressure to win its first World Cup title since 2002, five-time champion Brazil was outplayed early and needed Vinícius Júnior’s 32nd-minute goal to gain a 1-1 draw against Morocco on Saturday in a pulsating, high-profile group match.
“We started on a really bad note,” Vinícius said through a translator. “For certain, we got to hold on to the ball. We have to move better.”
A semifinalist four years ago, Morocco had 12 shots in the first 30 minutes and went ahead on Ismael Saibari’s 21st-minute goal, a chip over goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
“The team was a bit anxious at the beginning. Nerves were all over the place,” Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti said through a translator. “A very imbalanced team.”
Brazil evened the score 11 minutes later. Vinícius exchanged passes with Bruno Guimarães on the left flank, took a few touches to cut around Neil El Aynaoui and rifled a right-footed shot past the outstretched arm of Yassine Bounou for his 10th international goal.
“We are satisfied with the draw,” Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said. “We are not euphoric.”
Fans in Brazil’s canary yellow dominated the crowd of 80,663 at MetLife Stadium — only about five sections near the south goal had fans in Morocco’s red.
Seleção supporters expected the flowing, entertaining play of Pelé’s era and were subdued before Vinícius evened the score with his spectacular angled effort.
Brazil extended its unbeaten streak in World Cup openers to 21, including 17 wins, since a 1934 loss to Spain. No. 6 Brazil and seventh-ranked Morocco are the only top 10 teams to meet in the first round of the expanded 48-nation World Cup tournament.
“We cannot lose heart,” Ancelotti said. “You don’t win a World Cup based on your first match.”
Brazil plays Haiti on Friday in Philadelphia, then closes Group C against Scotland in Miami Gardens, Florida. Morocco faces Scotland in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Friday, then meets Haiti in Atlanta.
Brazil star Neymar, recovering from a torn right calf, didn’t dress for the game.
One hour before the match, an Uber from Times Square to the stadium, site of next month’s final, was $126.95 — up from $83.95 for advance booking for the same time Sunday.
Ancelotti, the Italian who became Brazil’s first foreign World Cup coach, wore a three-piece suit with a necktie on a sunny afternoon with a 88-degree Fahrenheit (31-degree Celsius) temperature for the 6 p.m. start.
Morocco went ahead after Lucas Paquetá lost control of a short pass from Roger Ibañez and knocked it off Bilal El Khannouss. It bounced to Noussair Mazraoui, who sent the ball to Brahim Díaz in the center circle.
His through pass split Gabriel Magalhães and Marquinho, and Saibari ran onto the ball at the top of the arc. Alisson was slow to come off his line as Saibari scored his 10th international goal.
Morocco nearly went back ahead in the ninth of 10 minutes of stoppage time. Alisson spilled Aynaoui’s long-range shot, which was headed wide, then while on the grass leaned back toward the goal and used his right hand to block Ayoube Amaimouni’s follow-up effort.
“We still have to improve,” Morocco captain Achraf Hakimi said. “We have to keep the positive things. We’re going to learn from the mistakes, for sure.” (AP)
