Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Florida.
Brazil 7 Haiti 1.
Coutinho with a hat-trick. He scored the opener, scored the security goal for Brazil and the final goal of the match.
Brazil – Coutinho (14′, 29′, 90+2′) | Renato Augusto (35′, 86′) | (Gabriel 59′) | Lucas Lima (67)
Haiti – James Marcelin(70)
After a winless start for both teams, Brazil and Haiti took to the stage to find their first win of their Copa America Centenario.
We were either going to get a shocking result or a routine scoreline.
Haiti was the underdog, and the only disadvantage Brazil had was the weight of expectation for the team to win.
As expected, the match started off with Brazil doing the pressing, while the Haitians sat back and monitor what the Brazilian attack had in store for the day.
The referee was lenient, as Haiti could have gone down a man, after a 3rd-minute foul that looked to have interrupted a clear goal scoring chance for Brazil. The free kick that was awarded was wasted as Willian skied the ball over the bar.
Haiti defensive tactics were working, but with the individual talents that Brazil carries it was going to be difficult for the Haitians to hold on to a defensive game plan for the entire match. Brazil kept moving the ball faster as Haitian defense kept pressuring.
A moment of brilliance for Coutinho opened the scoring in the 14th minute. He saw the opportunity and decided to go forward on his own. The change in aggression in that play left the Haitian defender backing up instead of charging in.Coutinho’s shot from outside the box had enough power and good placement that the speed of goalkeeper’s reaction couldn’t match it.
With Brazil being up a goal, Haiti was forced out of their defensive shell. They started putting a little more pressure on the Brazilian team. Brazil contained the pressure with composure. They always played from the back till the got to the midfield.
As Haiti kept putting more men in an attacking position, they were leaving their defensive duties behind and becoming more vulnerable to the quickness of Brazilian attack.
Coutinho found the net again, just before the half hour mark in the 29th minute. Brazil was getting into a comfortable zone now. Haiti was either going to sit back and let Brazil play their game, or come out in search of a goal and play into the attacking hands of Brazil.
Haiti continued to press, and Brazil was finding rhythm their play. 6 minutes after Coutinho brace, Renato Augusto scored Brazil’s third goal. The match was virtually over.
Brazil could have been 5-0 up by half time, but they left the field with a 3-0 lead at the break.
The start of the second half should have been about goal management for the Haitian team. But Brazil had a different game plan. Haiti knew that a loss would eliminate them from the competition. If you going out, do it with a bang.
Just like the first half, Brazil scores 14 minutes after kick-off for Brazil to get the scoring started.
Gabriel Barbosa who had replaced Jonas after the break scored Brazil’s fourth goal.
At 4-0, a repeat of the first half was not far from reach. Lucas Lima scored the Brazils 5th goal 8 minutes later in the 67th minute. Soon after going 5-0, Haiti got a consolation goal in the 70th minute, thanks to James Marcelin.
With 20 minutes to go, there was no expectation of a Haitian comeback, but goals were still expected from the match. Brazil added their final two goals in the 86th minute when Renato Augusto got his second goal of the match, and late into extra time when Coutinho scored another beauty.
Haiti is officially eliminated from the tournament. Their next and last match of the competition will be against Ecuador. Haiti will be playing for pride. This will be the match for the team to experiment and play freely. It might be a harder match for Ecuador than it will be for Haiti.
Brazil faces the Peru. If Peru wins their second match against Ecuador, they won’t need a win as much as Brazil will. But with the goals scored in today’s match, Brazil should be fine with a draw or win.
| Group B | |||||||
| Team | Played | Win | Loss | Draw | GF | GA | Points |
| Brazil | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 4 |
| Peru | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Ecuador | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Haiti | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 |
