Match starts in 45 minutes. It will be on BeIn sports in the US. Line-ups, Brazil with Militão at right-back and the same 4 forwards that played against Korea. Ederson; Militão, Marquinhos, Magalhães, Alex Sandro; Casemiro, Bruno Guimarães; Rodrygo, Vini Jr., Matheus Cunha, Estêvão Mendy; Mendy, Joulibaly, Niakhaté, Jakobs; I. Gueye, P. Gueye, PM Sarr; Ndiaye, I. Sarr, Mané https://ge.globo.com/futebol/selecao-brasileira/jogo/15-11-2025/brasil-senegal.ghtml
Boy, the stadium has the volume up on the Brazil anthem. Stadium was sold out by yesterday, according to Brazilian reports.
Vinicius with an early chance after the keeper makes a mistake and hits it straight to Estêvão. Hit it straight at the keeper though.
Senegal with an immediate response earns a corner. Then Brazil hits the post a minute later with Matheus Cunha. Intense start on both sides.
Senegal definitely dangerous if they can win a ball, but Brazil with most of the chances so far and more of the ball now.
Brazil with control in the offensive half, results in lots of passing until a cross comes in and Matheus Cunha hits the crossbar. Second ball off the post for him. 17 minutes in.
Cunha unfortunately with a bad touch ended a good move down the middle. The Rodrygo with a good chance minutes later. And now again recovering the ball quickly results in a chance and Estêvão slams it home. 1x0 28 minutes in.
Some poor touches or decisions are ending some potential opportunities, like the earlier one from Matheus Cunha, and now good defense by Koulibaly, but Vini messes up a 3x3 he should have done better with.
Casemiro, usually in the middle for headers on free kicks, scores on a jogada ensaiada with him getting the ball at the back post. Let's see if he was offside though... Senegal complaining a lot. I don't think he was off, I think they were complaining about that but also some holding or blocking in the middle that might have helped Casemiro appear all alone. Goal confirmed. Took a long time to confirm and the two teams got into some arguments while waiting. Koulibaly obviously not happy with what happened.
Brazil with some scrambling defending keeps the ball out of the goal. It's one of those that looks heroic, but should have been cleared better early on to avoid the whole mess in the first place. Ederson has to make a save on Sarr on the next play. Senegal definitely with time on the ball now. They're asking for a penalty in that scramble. VAR says not enough to check.
Koulibaly cannot stop talking to the ref. Sure, he's the captain, but that's in the center of a lot of the arguing between players.
If that atmosphere persists in the second half there are going to be some hard tackles. Senegal probably feeling hard done are going to want to get even, while Brazil will feel like Senegal's attitude is the problem.
Ederson under pressure gives the ball away and Senegal hit the post. 6 mins into the 2nd half. Both teams came back with the same 11. (PM Sarr did get subbed a few minutes in for a possible injury. Jackson came on.)
Beginning of the half was intense as well. Around 18 minutes Brazil makes two subs. Wesley for Gabriel (out injured, Militão into the middle) and João Pedro for Cunha. Casemiro gets a yellow at 21 minutes.
Some poor decisions holding on to the ball a little too long by the forwards or taking the wrong touch, but Brazil still getting potential goal scoring chances. Estêvão on the end of one just now that was a bit lucky to get there, but the defender got there before him. 26 minutes in, Brazil getting some space on counters.
29th minute, 3 subs for Senegal. Mané out, Jakobs out, P Gueye out. Mbiaye in, Diouf in, Cisse in. Time for Brazil to make another 2 or 3 subs maybe. Left-back, maybe Fabinho and a forward?
Senegal with all the possession now, but not creating much, until a 36th minute play gets them a corner. Lots of subs now. 2 more for Senegal and now Luiz Henrique and Paquetá in for Estêvão and Rodrygo
Caio Henrique and Fabricio Bruno in for Alex Sandro and Vinicius Junior in the 89th minutes. All subs made. Game really slowed down and only 3 minutes of added time given.
Final whistle. Good win. Didn't feel like Senegal would never score, but the defense was very solid for the most part. Senegal should have scored when they hit the post, but that was early in the second, up 2x0. We hit the post twice before scoring and had moments when the forwards should have worked better together, been less selfish or had better touches, but hopefully that will all be called out and continue to improve. Against Tunisia I wouldn't be surprised to see some tests, like Juba or Caio Henrique, Fabinho in the middle. But Ancelotti has already said it won't be a near complete change like the match against Japan.
Imagine if Ancelotti had succeeded Tite immediately after the last World Cup. Alas, we've had him for less than 10 matches and the team has evolved drastically considering where the team was under Diniz and Dorival. With all due respect to these two coaches, Ancelotti is simply on another level. If someone had told me in early 2025 that Brazil would before the end of the year defeated a team which had lost one match between December 2022 and November 2025, I wouldn't have believed it. Let's see if Brazil can break the solid Tunisian defense.