Key Points
- Brazil beat Haiti 3-0 in Group C at the 2026 World Cup on June 19.
- Matheus Cunha scored twice and Vinícius Júnior added the third.
- Raphinha was forced off in the 40th minute with a hamstring injury.
- Manager Carlo Ancelotti said the injury would be assessed Sunday.
Brazil won comfortably and left worried anyway. The Seleção beat Haiti 3-0 in their Group C match on June 19 — a Matheus Cunha brace and a Vinícius Júnior goal — but the result was overshadowed when Raphinha pulled up with a hamstring injury and limped off in the 40th minute. For a team with a deep enough roster to make a 3-0 win look routine, the only score that mattered by the final whistle was the one on the medical report.
The match
Cunha was the difference, scoring twice before halftime, with Vinícius Júnior adding the third to put the result beyond doubt. Brazil controlled the game throughout, and Haiti could not contain the Seleção's attack. Rayan, the 19-year-old Bournemouth forward, came on for the injured Raphinha and got extended minutes in a game already decided.
The injury that matters
Raphinha is Brazil's creative engine, and a hamstring is exactly the wrong injury at exactly the wrong time. Manager Carlo Ancelotti said the issue would be assessed Sunday, stopping short of a timeline. The concern is recurrence: Raphinha suffered a right hamstring injury in a friendly against France in March that cost him roughly five weeks. With the knockout rounds approaching, Brazil can absorb a soft group-stage opponent without him; a quarterfinal is another matter. Elsewhere in the group stage, co-hosts Canada earned their first men's World Cup win a day earlier. Brazil's depth is not in question. Its most important attacker's hamstring is.
Source: CBS Sports, Al Jazeera
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