‘Vinicius is a genius’

“I don’t care about scoring goals,” insisted Vinicius Jr before Brazil’s FIFA World Cup 2026 debut against Morocco. “I’m not here to win individual awards. I’m here to become a world champion. If I don’t score at this tournament and we win the title, nobody will be happier than me.”

Brazil, 1-0 down against a team on a 29-match unbeaten run, nevertheless needed their poster boy to step up. He did just that, grabbing a gorgeous goal that earned Carlo Ancelotti’s the Selecao a crucial point.

“Vinicius is a genius,” left-back Douglas Santos told FIFA. “One on one, he’s so difficult to mark. He goes past opponents with such ease. That’s what he did again, and it was a beautiful goal.”

It was the seventh World Cup goal Brazil had scored with Vinicius on the pitch. The 25-year-old has been involved in seven of them.

As for the individual awards he also didn’t care about, Vinicius also got one of them. The legendary Ronaldo, indeed, presented him with the Michelob Ultra Superior Player of the Match at New York New Jersey Stadium turf.

“I believe I can improve a lot,” stressed Vinicius. “I scored a goal, but technically I wasn’t at 100 per cent. I believe I can improve and contribute more to the attack. I was able to help a lot in defence.

“I think we started very poorly in the first half. It made things difficult because we conceded a goal. Finding your rhythm in an opener is always tough. We need to hold on to the ball more, keep possession, and move it from side to side. Opponents will often look to defend and hit us on the counter-attack.

“There isn’t much to say. We simply have to get to work as the next game is just around the corner. There’s no easy game in a World Cup. We need to improve and evolve in order to win this competition.”

“It was our first game,” added Douglas. “We were up against strong opponents, we knew it would be difficult. It’s not the result we wanted, but we have to take confidence from the fact we came from behind and got a draw.

“We did our best. We really wanted to win. We’ll take the positives from it, but are also aware we can do better.”

Brazil will return to action against Haiti, who lost 1-0 to Scotland in their Group C curtain-raiser, in Philadelphia on Friday.