![\"Brazil's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4JMHCRC_AFP__20260625__B88P7NG__v1__HighRes__FblWc2026Match49ScoBra_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nBrazil punished Scotland’s defensive frailties to advance to the World Cup knockout rounds as Switzerland and Canada sealed their place in the last 32.<\/p>\n
Five-time World Cup champions Brazil clinched first place in Group C after defeating Scotland 3-0 in Miami on Wednesday (US time), topping the group on goal difference from second-placed Morocco, who secured their passage after battling to a 4-2 win over Haiti in Atlanta.<\/p>\n
Brazil’s victory meant Scotland finish third in the group standings, leaving their hopes of finishing among the eight best-ranked third-placed teams who advance to the last 32 hanging by the slenderest of threads.<\/p>\n
Vinicius Junior scored twice for Brazil, pouncing on a horrendous blunder by Scott McKenna to fire the South Americans ahead in the seventh minute.<\/p>\n
The Real Madrid striker then nodded in Brazil’s second in first-half stoppage time after losing his marker all too easily at the Hard Rock Stadium.<\/p>\n
Manchester United striker Matheus Cunha added a third in the 60th minute, delivering a potentially fatal blow to Scotland’s chances of squeezing into the last 32.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Brazil’s forward Neymar reacts after the win.<\/p>\n
AFP \/ Patricia de Melo Moreira<\/p>\n
Brazil’s win also saw coach Carlo Ancelotti give veteran striker Neymar his first appearance of the tournament, the Selecao’s all-time leading scorer coming on as a substitute in the 76th minute.<\/p>\n
“We played as a collective and that’s a good thing,” a satisfied Ancelotti said afterwards. “There are many positive things, such as Neymar’s appearance, which can help us.”<\/p>\n
Brazil and Scotland’s clash in Florida was one of six matches taking place on Wednesday as a hectic final round of group fixtures got underway.<\/p>\n
Swiss, Canada march on<\/p>\n
Earlier, Switzerland defeated Canada 2-1 in Vancouver to clinch top spot in Group B.<\/p>\n
The Canadians advanced to the second round of the World Cup for the first time in their history despite the defeat, clinching the runners-up berth on goal difference ahead of third-placed Bosnia-Herzegovina, 3-1 winners over Qatar.<\/p>\n
Ruben Vargas and Johan Manzambi scored the goals to seal Switzerland’s victory, while Promise David pulled a goal back in the final 15 minutes to set up a tense finish.<\/p>\n
Prior to the 2026 tournament, Canada had never won a match at the World Cup but with their second-placed finish in the pool they will play the runner-up from Group A on Sunday in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
“I know our team has heart, right? But I know that we have a group that will give everything to every moment,” said Canada coach Jesse Marsch.<\/p>\n
On having to move to California for Canada’s next game, Marsch said: “It’s been awesome, and that’s the disappointment, we just want to continue the energy that’s taken place here in Canada.”<\/p>\n
Bosnia-Herzegovina, like Scotland, will have to wait to see if they advance to the knockout rounds after finishing third in Group B with four points.<\/p>\n
On a dizzying day of action when the final games in each group will be played simultaneously, co-hosts Mexico know they are already guaranteed of playing in the knockout round.<\/p>\n
The Mexicans won Group A after two victories and will play the Czech Republic, who need a victory to stand any chance of going through to the last 32.<\/p>\n
South Africa improved dramatically in their last game to draw with the Czechs after a pitiful performance in the tournament curtain raiser against Mexico when they had two men sent off and lost 2-0.<\/p>\n
They need to beat Son Heung-min’s South Korea, who themselves are targeting the knockout phase.<\/p>\n
The action on Wednesday is the first of four days of six games, the result of a tournament expanded for the first time to 48 teams.<\/p>\n
See how the game unfolded below:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brazil punished Scotland’s defensive frailties to advance to the World Cup knockout rounds as Switzerland and Canada sealed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-494143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}