Brazil Toppled Egypt 2-1 in Cleveland

In the match played at the 67,000-capacity Huntington Bank Field, home of the Cleveland Browns, both teams tested their squads just days away from the World Cup. The first 11 minutes of the match burned both goals: in the 7th minute, the Egyptian Mohanad Lasheen's holding the ball too long in a dangerous area created an opportunity for Bruno Guimaraes. The Newcastle United midfielder grabbed the ball from the defence and lifted the nets of Mostafa Shobeir with a calm finish. Shortly after Brazil took the 1-0 lead, Mostafa Ziko stepped in on Marquinhos' faulty back-pass and placed the ball in the bottom-right corner, taking the score to 1-1. In the 17th minute, Wesley França left the field for Brazil due to a groin injury, Danilo came on in his place. The first half saw yellow cards; in the 22nd Marquinhos for a foul, in the 43rd Hany M. for a foul.

Carlo Ancelotti made radical changes at half-time: Weverton's goal to Alisson, Bremer instead of Marquinhos, Leo Pereira instead of Ibanez, Fabinho instead of Casemiro, Danilo instead of Bruno Guimaraes, Luiz Henrique instead of Lucas Paqueta, Matheus Cunha instead of Vinicius Junior and Endrick instead of Thiago Igreja came onto the field. Egypt also brought captain Mohamed Salah and Mohamed Abdelmonem into the second half. The effect of the changes came quickly: in the 52nd minute, Endrick sent the ball into the nets with a calm finish on Raphinha's cut-back from the right wing into the penalty area and Brazil went 2-1 ahead. Although Egypt increased the pressure in the remaining minutes, it could not find the third goal against Brazil's organised defence in the second half. In match statistics, Brazil was well above Egypt's 0.39 with 1.82 in xG, 12-5 in total shots, 5-1 in big chances and superior 28-12 in ball touches in the opponent's penalty area.

In the match refereed by Escobedo Gonzalez A. (Mexico), it was the match where both teams made their final adjustments to the World Cup calendar. Brazil is in Group C with Morocco, Scotland and Haiti; Selecao's opening match will be played against Morocco. Carlo Ancelotti's team could not see Neymar in the squad in this match either; the Santos striker is in the process of overcoming a calf injury. Egypt, on the other hand, will open the tournament against Belgium on June 15 in Group G; afterwards, they will face Iran and New Zealand. Under Hossam Hassan, the Pharaohs displayed a resilient performance again against a strong opponent in the last rehearsal after beating Russia 1-0. This match between the two teams took place only for the 4th time in history; in all of the previous three matches (2009 Confederations Cup 4-3, 2011 friendly 2-0, 2012 Olympic Games 3-2), Brazil emerged victorious.

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