Brazil, Morocco, and South Africa Advance to World Cup Play-offs

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — The Brazil national football team secured a confident victory over the Scotland national team in their final match of the world championship group stage.

The match, held in Miami, United States, ended with a score of 3-0 in favor of the South American team. For the winners, forward Vinicius netted a brace, scoring in the 7th minute and in first-half stoppage time, while Matheus Cunha added another goal in the 60th minute.

A landmark event of the match was the return to the pitch of Brazil's all-time top scorer, Neymar, who came on as a substitute in the 76th minute, playing for the national team for the first time since 18 October 2023.

Thanks to this success, the Brazil national team earned 7 points and finished in first place in Group C. In a parallel fixture within the same group, the Morocco national team defeated Haiti with a score of 4-2.

The Moroccans also finished on 7 points and qualified for the play-offs from the second position, trailing Brazil on tiebreakers. Notably, during this game, the Haiti national team scored two goals in a single World Cup match for the first time in its history. The score was level at 2-2 after the first half; first, Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou scored an own goal, and then former Lokomotiv Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg forward Wilson Isidor found the net for Haiti.

Achraf Hakimi and Ismael Saibari scored for Morocco, with the North African side sealing the victory in the second half. Scotland remained in third place with 3 points, while Haiti rounded out the Group C table with zero points.

The result of the match between Brazil and Scotland also guaranteed an early, historic play-off spot for the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had previously finished third in Group B with 4 points. According to tournament regulations, the top two teams from each quartet advance to the round of 32, alongside the eight best third-placed teams. The heavy defeat of the Scots eliminated their chances of overtaking the Bosnian team on points, allowing Bosnia and Herzegovina to break through the World Cup group stage for the first time in history. In their debut world championship in 2014, the Balkan team failed to advance from the group.

The knockout stage participants were also determined in Group A. The South Africa national team edged past the Republic of Korea with a minimal 1-0 score, courtesy of a strike by Thapelo Maseko in the 63rd minute. In the other match of this group, the tournament hosts, Mexico, decisively beat the Czech Republic 3-0.

The Mexico national team secured first place with a perfect record of 9 points. Representatives of South Africa finished second with 4 points, breaking into the World Cup play-offs for the first time in their history. The Republic of Korea national team remained in third position with 3 points, while the Czech Republic national team rounded out the Group A standings with 1 point.

In the first round of the play-offs on 29 June 2026, the Brazil national team will face the second-placed team from Group F, a spot currently contested by the Netherlands, Japan, and Sweden. The Morocco national team will test its strength against the winner of the same Group F on the night of 29 June 2026.

As a reminder, the current world championship is jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The tournament, featuring 48 national teams, will run until 19 July 2026, with Argentina defending its title as the reigning world champion.