World Cup Group C Preview
Group C on paper should be one of the best in terms of entertainment at this World Cup, with a weaker-than-normal Brazil 2022 semi-finalists Morocco, a returning Scotland side with one of the best midfields at the tournament and a plucky newcomer in Haiti who are much better than most people are going to give them credit for I'd be amazed if there wasnt an upset at some point in this group stage
Group C fixtures (all kick-off times are in BST)
Brazil vs Morocco 13th June 11pm
Haiti vs Scotland 14th June 2am
Scotland vs Morocco 19th June 11pm
Brazil vs Haiti 20th June 1.30am
Morocco vs Haiti 24th June 11pm
Scotland vs Brazil 24th June 11pm
Brazil
The most successful team in World Cup history with 5 victories and the only nation to appear at every single World Cup, the legend of bygone eras of Pele. Garrincha, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho are who the current generation are aiming to emulate, and the expectation back in Brazil will be that they return Brazil to the top of the world's game for the first time since 2002 in what is the biggest fallow period in the history of the Brazilian national team. This team, in my opinion, is nowhere near the level of even the 2014 team, which got embarrassed 7-1 by Germany on home soil. They still have superstars going forward in Vinicius Jr and Raphinha, but weirdly for Brazil, the strength of this team is the Centre-backs and goalkeeper, with Gabriel and Marquinhos both having played in the recent Champions League final for Arsenal and PSG, respectively, in front of Alisson, who has been a top 3 goalkeeper in the world for nearly a decade at this point.
Going forward, they should be fine with aforementioned Vini Jr and Raphinha as well as Matheus Cunha, Gabriel Martinelli and Endrick, plus Neymar is still in the squad but is unlikely to feature in the group stage, and he is nowhere near the player he was 4 and 8 years ago and is mostly in the squad to keep the press quiet but yes Vini and Raphinha are good but are they as good as past Brazil squads who have won World Cup with the likes of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Romario, Rivaldo, Pele, Garrincha etc i dont think so.
Then we come to the clear problem areas of the pitch: the full-backs are terrible, with 34-year-old Danilo and 35-year-old Alex Sandro still set to start at right and left back, both of whom, in my opinion, don't start for Scotland or Morocco in this group and the midfield is also not great Bruno Guimaraes is great he isnt the problem pairing him with probably Casemiro who at 34 his legs are not once they once were but he has been good this season the problem for Brazil is the speed of this pair plus Fabinho there is a real chance they just get over run in midfield by Morocco and Scotland.
By no means are Brazil bad, and they should still get out of the group given Haiti's relative strength; is there a world where Brazil finish 3rd in this group behind Morocco and Scotland? Absolutely. Is it likely no. However, I think it is likely they finish 2nd in this group unless one of Raphinha and Vinicius Jr scores 3+ goals in the group stage. The floor is 3rd in the group and going out in the group stage given the matchup vs Scotland and Morocco being a contender in their own right, but the ceiling of Brazil is probably winning the whole thing if the attack clicks and Gabriel and Marquinhos stay fit; they could just blow teams away.
Morocco
Coming off the back of finishing fourth in 2022 and 'winning' the most recent AFCON, Morocco have positioned themselves as the first-ever African team to have a semi-realistic chance to win the whole thing.
Led by Achraf Hakimi, who is probably the best full-back in the world. Bounou in goal, despite playing in Saudi Arabia, is still a good goalkeeper; Noussair Mazraoui is a good left back or outside centre back if they play a 5-back. Issa Diop, Nayef Aguerd and Chadi Riad are a good group of centre backs despite not being spectacular. Sofyan Amrabat, if he is fit, and Ayyoub Bouaddi are a great double pivot, with Bouaddi being one of the best young midfielders in the world at only 18. Then in attack, Ismael Saibbari, Brahim Diaz and Abde Ezzalzouli all possess the ability to win a match on their own; they are a very dangerous team who can beat anyone on their day. The problem for Morocco is this group is tough: Brazil, despite not being the best Brazil team ever, are still very good, and Scotland have one of the best midfields at the whole tournament and are very physical, which is another knock on this team how will they be able to deal with a team that will aim to get set pieces and repeatedly get the ball in the box.
The floor for this team is the same as Brazil, finishing 3rd in this group and hoping they get through as one of the 3rd place teams. The ceiling is reaching the semi-finals again, but if a team can make the semi-finals, that team can win the tournament.
Scotland
Returning to the world stage for the first time since 1998 thanks to that ridiculous 4-2 game against Denmark which included an overhead kick 30 yard screamer from a full back and a goal from well inside their own half, the aim will be to get to the knockout stages for the first time ever, and this group presents an opportunity to do just that despite it being one of the tougher ones in the tournament. The Scottish fans will be great around the stadiums and will definitely add to the World Cup for the neutrals; the question is, will the team deliver?
Scotland will be heavily reliant on Scott McTominay and John McGinn; if either one has a bad tournament, they could drop points to Haiti, but if they both play great, which they tend to do for Scotland the rest of the midfield featuring Ryan Christie who has been a key player as Bournemouth finished 6th in the Premier League and Lewis Ferguson who has captained Bologna to an 8th placed finish and the Coppa Italia over the past two seasons this midfield 4 is as good as anyones when playing perfectly. The problem for Scotland will be goals as the strikers are far from ideal: Lyndon Dykes, Che Adams, Ross Stewart, George Hirst and Lawrence Shankland are not a group that strikes fear into the opposition, but Stewart and Shankland have been great at club level this season, and all of them apart from Che Adams are physical specimins who will put themselves about and be a nuisance for defenders they're likely to start Adams plus one up front and between this group of 5 striker they have to score the goals to compete with Brazil and Morocco.
The X factor is definitely Ben Gannon-Doak, who is the only real pacy winger in the squad and was superb for Middlesbrough in the 2024-25 season and has shown flashes in the Bournemouth side that finished 6th alongside Christie. The problem for Gannon-Doak is he is made of glass; if Scotland can keep him fit, he probably has the beating of Mazraoui and Alex Sandro and will be one of the most exciting players in the whole tournament.
Scotland playing Haiti first could be a blessing or a curse depending on the result; if they beat Haiti, the pressure is off for Brazil and Morocco, knowing a point in either will almost certainly send them through as one of the 3rd placed teams at worst, and they can go after Brazil and Morocco. But if they drop points to Haiti, they would have to win one of the other two games, which is a lot of pressure.
The floor for Scotland is they drop points to Haiti and get grouped; the Ceiling is a run to the round of 16 or quarter-finals if the draw falls nicely.
Haiti
It's a remarkable achievement that Haiti even qualified for this tournament, beating out World Cup semi-regulars in Costa Rica and Honduras to qualify for the first time since 1974 despite not playing a game on Haitian soil since July 2021 because of the dire political situation in the country since the government collapsed and the country is now largely run by gangs.
Obviously, this draw is a nightmare for Haiti, and they are very unlikely to progress, but they are far from the worst team at this tournament, as shown by the 4-0 drubbing they handed New Zealand in a friendly. They are not scared of anyone and will go for whoever they are playing, whether it is Brazil or Bermuda. Their players play all over the place, from the Premier League to Iran to the Haitian league itself; despite that league basically not existing since 2021, Woodensky Pierre of Violette has made the squad. Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Wilson Isidor are probably the two best players in the squad, playing their club football for Wolves and Sunderland, respectively, but Haiti will be fun to watch. Johny Placide in goal is 38 and has been Haiti's goalkeeper since 2011, and playing in the World Cup will mean more to him than perhaps anyone else at the whole tournament. Duckens Nazon is 32 now and has been playing for Haiti since 2014, and despite his club career seeing him travel from France to Bulgaria to Iran, when he plays for Haiti he goes up a level or two, and with 44 goals he is the nation's top scorer.
Haiti are unlikely to progress in fact the chance is very minimal due to the group but Haiti will definitely score a goal and will give Scotland a fright in the first game even if they come up short in the end this Haiti team is what the world cup is about over coming unparalleled adversity to make the tournament and then hopefully putting on a show so the people of Haiti can forget about their problems for 90 minutes.
Predictions
In my predictions, Brazil progresses as one of the 8 best 3rd place teams.
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