Vinicius Jr stunner avoids Brazil embarrassment in World Cup opener

Vinicius Jr’s wonderful strike rescued a 1-1 draw for Brazil after a poor opening-game performance against Group B rivals Morocco.

The Real Madrid forward jinked round the Morocco defence before lifting the ball into the far corner, but Morocco could, and perhaps should, have taken all three points.

Earlier, Ismael Saibari put Morocco ahead when he took advantage of a defensive to lift the ball over Brazil goalkeeper Alisson from 20 yards.

Morocco were the better side from the start, and took 12 shots in the opening half an hour, but they failed to capitalise fully and Vinicius took advantage of space on the left to receive a superb Bruno Guimaraes pass and cut inside to bury the ball into the back of the net.

Brentford forward Igor Thiago, making his competitive debut, had a great chance to put Brazil ahead but failed to connect to a Vinicius cross.

Morocco could have won the game late on when Neil El Aynaoui’s long-range effort was kept out by Alisson.

Cover Photo: Brazil – Flag” by L.C.Nøttaasen is licensed under CC BY 2.0 .