World Cup heavyweight clash
\nNew York
\nBrazil and Morocco played out a 1-1 draw in the first heavyweight clash of the World Cup on Saturday, with the African side confirming their potential while exposing familiar weaknesses in their opponents at a sold out New York\/New Jersey stadium.
\nIsmael Saibari gave Morocco a deserved first-half lead before Vinicius Jr produced a moment of brilliance to restore parity, ensuring the points were shared in the opening Group C match.
\nThe result leaves the group finely balanced ahead of Haiti\u2019s meeting with Scotland later on Saturday in the other group fixture.
\nFor Morocco, semi-finalists at the 2022 World Cup, the performance offered further evidence they can challenge the game\u2019s traditional powers.
\nHowever, Carlo Ancelotti\u2019s side were left with questions to answer after a disjointed display where they were repeatedly stretched by their opponents\u2019 pace and movement.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think we started the match well, the team was a bit nervous, we lost possession too often and lost too many challenges. The first half wasn\u2019t good,\u201d said Ancelotti, who noted Brazil improved after the break.
\n\u201cIt improved in the second half; it\u2019s a tough match because Morocco are a good side. I think there was a bit of nervousness. In the first half they were breaking out of our press and making dangerous counter-attacks.\u201d
\nMorocco made the brighter start, patiently working the ball down the flanks and posing an early threat through Achraf Hakimi and Bilal El Khannouss while Brazil looked to strike on the counter.
\nMorocco repeatedly sliced through Brazil\u2019s midfield with alarming ease, exposing gaps between the lines as teenager Ayyoub Bouaddi displayed his talent.
\nBrazil\u2019s first sniff at goal came in the 14th minute, but Igor Thiago failed to make the most of it, fluffing his header.<\/p>\n
Frailties
\nSeven minutes later, the five-time world champion\u2019s defensive frailties were laid bare.
\nLucas Paqueta was dispossessed in midfield, allowing Diaz to slip Saibari through as centre backs Marquinhos and Gabriel were caught flat-footed.
\nAlisson compounded the error with an ill-timed charge off his line, and Saibari calmly lofted the ball over the goalkeeper to give Morocco the lead.
\nBrazil continued to struggle against Morocco\u2019s intensity and organisation, although the Africans were unable to turn their superiority into further goals.
\nInstead, it took only a moment of brilliance from Vinicius to haul Brazil level in the 32nd minute.
\nCollecting a pass from Bruno Guimaraes on the left edge of the box, he cut inside onto his right foot and rifled an unstoppable shot into the far top corner.
\nBrazil nearly completed the turnaround on the stroke of halftime, but goalkeeper Yassine Bounou reacted sharply to keep out Paqueta\u2019s acrobatic scissor kick.
\nMidfielder Fabinho and defender Danilo came on for Casemiro and Roger Ibanez, who had a woeful first half, giving Brazil some more control in the game in the second half. Brazil upped a gear, showing more poise and forcing Morocco to defend more although they struggled to create clear-cut chances until the 78th minute when Raphinha collected a cross from Vinicius. The edge went off as both sides mostly avoided risks. Brazil did find some new energy in the final minutes, coming close through Matheus Cunha, but they still lacked their vintage swagger.
\nBoth teams will fancy their chances of finishing top of the group and getting a potentially better path in the knockout stages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
World Cup heavyweight clash New York Brazil and Morocco played out a 1-1 draw in the first heavyweight clash of the World Cup on Saturday, with the African side confirming their potential while exposing familiar weaknesses in their opponents at a sold out New York\/New Jersey stadium. Ismael Saibari gave Morocco a deserved first-half lead …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":99070,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99053"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99074,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99053\/revisions\/99074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}