Vinicius Jr rifles home leveller as Brazil and Morocco serve up captivating New Jersey tie

After a spectacular first-half between the Group C rivals when the Real Madrid winger cancelled out Ismael Saibari's opener, the contest flagged a little on a sweaty Saturday evening

SAMBA SLAM: Vinicius Junior of Brazil celebrates a goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group C match between Brazil and Morocco at New York New Jersey Stadium on June 13, 2026 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Pic: Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images

World Cup Group C: Brazil 1 Morocco 1

Two teams will return to this concrete corner of the world five weeks from now. Could it be either of these sides? Perhaps. 

But before we get too deep into that let us first hope. The wish is that whichever pair of nations make it to New Jersey on July 19 serve us up a lot of what we saw in a sparkling first 45 minutes and not a whole pile of what we saw in the second. 

A sweaty and energy-sapping evening affair ended level, 1-1, when it could have gone many other ways. Morocco, with teenage midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi shooting his hand up as the earliest contender to be this World Cup's breakout star, could have been almost clear by the time Vinicius Jr. rifled in a Brazilian leveller to Ismael Saibari's irresistible opener. 

Carlo Ancelotti's canary crew, roared on by the overwhelming majority of the 80,663 inside the baking cake tin, may well have won it, having the best of relatively meagre second-half openings. 

New York mayor Zohran Mamdani was among those who'd crossed state lines for the occasion, travel infrastructure appearing to work quite well. Mamdani had picked Morocco as his winners. He might be shrewd but they couldn't quite sew it all together here for 90-plus minutes. 

Even the most compelling of contests need continuity. Instead as the second-half tried to return to the pitch of the first we had a seven-minute period around the hour mark which featured a Brazilian double sub, a Moroccan double switch soon after and then a water break. It disrupted any chance of flow. But there are more games to come. This will go down as one that sets up both sides to grow into a global Group C, Haiti and Scotland rounding it out. 

Debates around identity are rarely too, too far from the Moroccan team. Four years ago in Qatar they made a historic mark as they marched all the way to the last four with a squad which featured over a dozen overseas-born players. The 2026 vintage skews even heavier that way, Fulham centre back Issa Diop and precocious Lille midfielder Bouaddi, both French-born, switching their allegiance in recent months.

But for Brazil, it’s a feature now too. Before a ball was kicked Ancelotti had achieved one piece of history, the first foreigner to manage a Brazilian team at the World Cup. With temperatures peaking at 35C and a slick humidity hanging over this giant slab of concrete in the swamplands of New Jersey, Ancelotti still prioritized sartorial splendour. Sharp dark suit, crisp light shirt, tie and, somehow the cardigan not dispensed with either.

Alas, full backs can’t be made to measure or picked off a rack. A country that has won this thing five times has a hall of fame of left and right backs. Here, Ancelotti’s 2026 odyssey began with a left back from the Russian league, Douglas Santos, and a right back who isn't a right back at all, from the Saudi league, Roger Ibanez.

Morocco set the pace for so much of what was to come in a fantastic first 45 as they zipped out of the gates, clipping crisp passes around and probing from the get-go. Ibanez looked every inch the 6’4” centre-back asked to do something uncomfortable as Noussair Mazraoui got at him early.

Bouaddi didn’t need to grow into his first competitive game of international football; he was cruising around New Jersey as though this was the opening sequence of The Sopranos.

Even 15 minutes in, Brazil’s middle was toiling, Casemiro most acutely. In a rare break down the other end, Vinicius Jr. latched on to a Raphinha pass and bore down only for Achraf Hakimi to nick in, clear, then turn around and berate his teammates. Morocco’s start had been too sharp for them to find themselves behind.

So they went ahead. They did so courtesy of the best goal this young tournament has seen, Mazraoui feeding Brahim Diaz who turned and threaded the kind of millimetre-perfect pass which neither a New York Giant nor a Jet has managed in this house for many a year. Saibari was clear, Alisson out to try to close. The PSV man sand-wedged a gorgeous flop shot up and over and Morocco had the lead they deserved.

It could have been two or even three by the time we reached the half hour. Instead they were pegged back to where they’d started. With the sideshow that is Neymar and his broken body along for this ride, Vinicius Jr. could well have wanted a fast start to a tournament that, in the past, hasn’t been kind to him. On 32 minutes he got it as he befuddled El Aynaoui and rifled past Bono.

The pace and purpose to it all was a joy to behold, the quality significantly above anything the first two and a half days had produced. It had just enough chaos too. The only hope as they went off for well-deserved deep breaths was that we’d get, mostly, more of the same.

First, Ancelotti wanted change. Neither Casemiro nor Ibanez reappeared after the interval and, on both fronts, it was the right call.

Fabinho gave Brazil a little more presence in the heart of the battle but overall, the pace unfortunately did drop. By 65 minutes we’d now had six changes, Igor Thiago’s day of hard ploughing up top with little impact brought to an end. Raphinha went more central and had arguably the two best openings as the contest ebbed towards its end. 

With his backwards baseball cap and baby pink bib, the now 34-year-old Neymar had a Paulista Poochie vibe as he tried to summon his teammates forward. 

In 10 minutes of added time, Brazil built pressure with two corners only for Alisson to be spring to his side to ultimately keep them level. The tie wasn't for the want of trying. Five weeks to go yet. A winner will be found here eventually. 

Brazil (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Ibanez, Marquinhos, Gabriel, Santos; Casemiro, Bruno Guimaraes; Raphinha, Paqueta, Vinicius Jr; Thiago.

Subs: Fabinho for Casemiro (HT), Danilo for Ibanez (HT), Cunha for Paqueta (62), Luiz Henrique for Thiago (62), Danilo Oliveira for Guimaraes (80).

Goals: Vinicius Jr (32) 

Morocco (4-2-3-1): Bono; Hakimi, Diop, Riad, Mazraoui; Bouaddi, El Aynaoui; Diaz, Ounahi, El Khannous; Saibari.

Subs: Talbi for Diaz (65), El Mourabet for Ounahi (65), Echghouyab for El Khannous (80), Salah-Eddien for Mazraoui (80), Rahimi for Saibari (80). 

Goals: Saibari (21) 

Referee: Vincic (SLV)

Att: 80,663