MIAMI GARDENS, Florida — In a commanding group stage finale that secured their place in the tournament’s knockout round, five-time FIFA World Cup winners Brazil delivered a dominant 3-0 victory over Scotland on Wednesday, powered by a sparkling brace from star forward Vinícius Júnior and a late welcome return of talisman Neymar from injury.
Vinícius Jr. continued his scorching hot run of form across Brazil’s group stage campaign, becoming the only member of the squad to find the back of the net in all three of the team’s preliminary matches. He opened the scoring for Brazil just seven minutes into the contest, then grabbed his second of the night right before the halftime whistle. That double pulled him level with France’s Kylian Mbappé on four tournament goals, leaving him just one strike behind Argentina captain Lionel Messi, who currently leads all scorers at the competition with five goals. Midfielder Matheus Cunha added the third goal for Brazil to cap off the scoring.
The most anticipated moment of the night came in the 76th minute, when 34-year-old Brazilian icon Neymar made his tournament debut after a right calf injury forced him to sit out the team’s first two group stage matches. Even before Neymar officially left the bench to start warming up along the sideline mid-way through the second half, the majority-Brazilian crowd packed inside Hard Rock Stadium began chanting his name in a thunderous show of support. When the forward finally trotted out onto the pitch to enter the match, the stadium erupted into deafening cheers from the home away from home crowd.
Neymor currently stands as Brazil’s all-time leading goal scorer at the international level, with 79 goals across 130 appearances for the Seleção. The veteran forward has featured in every World Cup for Brazil over the past 16 years, notching eight total goals across his three previous tournament appearances.
For Scotland, the match marked the end of their first World Cup campaign in 26 years, after qualifying for the tournament for the first time since 1998. The side quickly earned a reputation as one of the tournament’s most beloved underdog stories, drawing global attention for the passionate, party-like energy brought by their loyal fanbase, nicknamed the Tartan Army. Before the match, fans from Scotland had turned areas of Boston and Miami Gardens into lively celebration zones ahead of their team’s final group stage fixture. Despite the valiant effort, Scotland fell short of advancing out of the group stage for the ninth consecutive World Cup qualification attempt, extending their decades-long knockout round drought.