Brazil 3-0 Haiti: Cunha Double Eases Selecao Nerves

Brazil needed a performance more than a result, and for 45 minutes in Philadelphia they finally produced one. Three goals, all before half-time, and the questions that trailed them out of their opener were quietly put away.

A 3-0 win over Haiti gave the Selecao their first victory of World Cup 2026, with Matheus Cunha scoring twice on his first start and Vinicius Jr adding a third in stoppage time. It moved Brazil top of Group C on goal difference and ended Haiti’s tournament — they became the first team mathematically out.

It was not flawless, and the second half drifted. But after the flat 1-1 draw with Morocco, a brisk, three-goal first half was exactly the reassurance Carlo Ancelotti’s side needed.

What happened in Brazil vs Haiti?

Brazil settled the game in a 22-minute spell before the interval. Cunha opened it on 23 minutes, forcing home the rebound after Vinicius Jr’s effort was saved — a striker’s goal, in the right place when the ball broke loose.

His second, on 36 minutes, was the pick of the night: a left-footed finish smashed high into the near post as he fell away off balance. Vinicius then made it three in first-half stoppage time, rolling in after Haiti’s defence had been pulled apart once more. Three goals, no reply, and the contest effectively over by the break.

The only sour note was Raphinha, forced off around the 40th minute with what looked like a hamstring problem — a worry Brazil will monitor closely with a decisive group game still to come.

Why did Cunha change Brazil’s mood?

Because he gave the attack a finisher. Ancelotti dropped Igor Thiago and handed Cunha his first start of the tournament, and the call was vindicated inside half an hour. Two goals from a player who had been on the fringe is the kind of selection win that steadies a dressing room.

Brazil’s problem against Morocco was not chances but conviction in front of goal. Cunha supplied it — a poacher’s rebound for the first, a moment of real quality for the second. It is the directness Ancelotti’s rebuild has been searching for since he took charge.

A first start, a brace, and a point made. For a squad still settling into its identity, Cunha’s night was the clearest argument yet for how this Brazil attack should look.

Was this the Vinicius Jr Brazil needed?

Closer to it. Vinicius was involved in all three goals in effect — his saved shot teed up Cunha’s first, and he finished the move for the third himself. After a quiet outing against Morocco, this was a sharper, more decisive version.

He still drifted in and out, and Brazil will want more end product across 90 minutes rather than in concentrated bursts. But a goal and a hand in the opener is the kind of return that quiets the noise around his form, at least for a week.

The bigger picture is an attack that, when Vinicius and Cunha click together, looks far more dangerous than it did on matchday one.

How does this reshape Group C?

It puts Brazil in front, but only just. The win lifted them top of Group C on goal difference, level with Morocco on four points — the same Morocco who held them in the opener and who many felt deserved more from that night.

Haiti are gone, the first team eliminated. That leaves a final round where Brazil face Scotland needing to confirm top spot, with Morocco still very much in the mix — almost the inverse of the cautious tone around our Brazil-Morocco preview.

For the Selecao, the table reads well and the performance read better. From a tense opener to a three-goal first half in Philadelphia, Brazil have given themselves momentum at the right time — provided Raphinha’s injury is not the price.