Brazil Cruise Past Scotland to Top Group
- Timothy Belin
- Jun 26
- 4 min read
Credit Sky Sports
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
Brazil defeated Scotland in comfortable fashion to claim top spot in Group C.
The world’s most decorated soccer nation needed just seven minutes to take the lead against their European opponent and barely looked threatened on their way to a second consecutive 3-0 win.
Brazil were always the favorites coming into the game, so the last thing Scotland would have wanted was to gift them anything. Unfortunately for them, Scott McKenna had different ideas.
The centre back lingered on the ball too long, allowing Rayan to close him down and deflect his pass to a wide-open Vinicius Jr. The Real Madrid superstar had no trouble placing the ball past Angus Gunn in goal, putting La Selecao up with only seven minutes played.
Vinicius then thought he had doubled his and his country’s tally in the 22nd minute, once again off a Scotland mistake. This time it was his own pressing that saw him take the ball off the feet of Jack Hendry, but though he ran through and placed it into the back of the net, VAR deemed the forward to have fouled his man when stealing that ball.
A brave defensive effort by the Scots saw them clear a ball off the line following a Vinicus cross in the 45th minute, but it was only delaying the inevitable. In the third minute of first-half stoppage time, the Real Madrid man finally got his brace when Bruno Guimaraes sent in a perfect cross to the back post for him to head home.
At the break, Scotland had yet to test Alisson in the Brazilian goal. Even worse, their four shots off target were the same number as Brazil’s attempts on goal, with the South Americans tallying a total of 11 first-half strikes.
Scotland looked to change those statistics early in the second half, and Scott McTominay forced Alisson into his first intervention just four minutes after the restart. The Napoli midfielder rose highest to head a ball on goal, but it was straight at the goalkeeper and easy for him to collect.
Vinicius went looking for his hat-trick minutes later, but Gunn finally got the better of him with a good save one-on-one. Matheus Cunha was the next man to try his luck only for his shot to be blocked on the edge of the box, and Lucas Paqueta’s subsequent attempt went just over Gunn’s crossbar.
But just before the hour mark, Cunha popped up with a goal of his own to all-but-end the tie.
Guimaraes made a clever run forward and collected the ball at the edge of the Scotland box. With defenders around him, the Newcastle midfielder showed good strength and awareness to keep hold of the ball before laying it off for Cunha. The forward had only to strike it at goal to make it 3-0.
Scotland looked to pull one back seconds after the restart, and could have had a penalty in the 62nd minute when Danilo went in rashly on Kieran Tierney. The foul was however just outside the area, and Duncan Ferguson’s free-kick forced a good save from Alisson.
The Liverpool goalkeeper was called into action once again two minutes later off another McTominay header. This time, the Scottish midfielder did a better job of placing it to the side of the shot stopper, but Alisson was equal to it with a full-stretch save.
Scotland looked to have lost any remaining energy coming out of the hydration break, and the final moments revolved more around Vinicus’ search for his hat-trick than any hopes of redemption.
In the 79th minute, the forward forced Gunn into a good near-post save. Two minutes later, he made it onto the end of a great pass across the face of goal, but just couldn’t sort out his feet to turn the cross into a virtually empty net.
Scotland had one final chance in the sixth minute of stoppage time. Ferguson’s corner was spilled by Alisson, and Anthony Ralston got to it first to send it back into the danger area. McTominay was once again the man to meet the cross, but his shot on goal was parried once more by the Brazilian goalkeeper.
With their second 3-0 win of the tournament, Brazil secured top spot in Group C ahead of Morocco on goal difference. La Selecao will play the second-place team from Group F on June 29 in Houston.
For Scotland, a nervy waiting game begins. The European side ended the group stage third on three points, and will need to see if those points are enough to move them on to the Round of 32 as one of the best third-placed teams.
As of writing, the only other group to have already finished is Group B, where third-place Bosnia and Herzegovina got four points to Scotland’s three.
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