🇧🇷 Brazil vs 🇭🇹 Haiti

Brazil haven't won a World Cup since 2002. By their own standards, that's a 24-year national emergency. They've reached the semi-finals three times since and been knocked out each time in increasingly painful ways. This fact alone explains a lot about the Brazilian national mood.

Neymar is back at 34 after a serious knee injury. He's Brazil's all-time top scorer, but has spent more time injured than playing at the last two World Cups. Fans are cautiously optimistic, which for Brazil fans is an unusual emotional state.

They're in Group C with Morocco, Haiti and Scotland. Brazil are expected to win this group so comfortably that any slip would dominate global sports news for about a week. Scotland fans are already preparing to be philosophical about it.

Brazil are managed by Dorival Júnior — the fourth different manager they've had since 2019. That's not a sign of a settled, confident operation. If someone asks why Brazil seem slightly disorganised, this is your answer.

Five World Cup titles, more than anyone else. Every tournament they enter comes with the weight of expectation that no other country has to deal with. It's both their greatest strength and the reason their fans always look slightly stressed.

Haiti are at their first World Cup since 1974, qualifying through CONCACAF in a campaign that beat several more established nations. For Caribbean football, this is a significant achievement with genuine historical weight.

Haiti play with an energetic, direct style that reflects the street football culture the country produces naturally — technically gifted individual players, capable of moments of brilliance that don't necessarily show up in the rankings.

Haiti are in Group C with Brazil, Morocco and Scotland — possibly the most challenging draw for a first-timer in the tournament. Brazil are the overwhelming favourites. What Haiti can realistically aim for is making an impression and not being embarrassed.

The country's football development has happened despite enormous challenges domestically. Football has been a source of national pride through extremely difficult decades. This qualification is the culmination of a lot of work that most people will never know about.

Frantzdy Pierrot plays in Europe and is the most recognisable name internationally — he represents a new generation of Haitian players who've developed through proper European academies rather than purely through the domestic league.