PHILADELPHIA (United States) — Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes urged Brazil to move on from a disappointing performance in their World Cup opener as they prepare to face Haiti in Philadelphia on Friday.
The five-time world champions drew 1-1 with Morocco to start their Group C campaign but will be heavily fancied to beat a Haiti side making their first appearance at the tournament since 1974.
“We know what we have to do. We know that we didn’t have a good first match, but what we can expect from us is that we’ll be really committed tomorrow and we’re going to do our best to win,” Gabriel told a pre-match news conference.
“It wasn’t the match we wanted (against Morocco), but this is in the past and we’ve learned from it.”
Brazil have won all three previous meetings with Haiti, including a 7-1 victory at the 2016 Copa America Centenario in their only competitive clash.
“All matches are difficult regardless of who you’re playing, there’s no easy match,” said Gabriel according to AFP.
“We cannot make any mistakes. They’re a physically strong team.”
Coach Carlo Ancelotti revealed he would make changes to the line-up and sought to put the team’s sluggish start into context.
“We’re going to have some changes, but not huge changes, maybe some players who are better rested than others,” said the Italian.
“Getting off to a good start is important in a World Cup, but the most important thing is that the team, rather than being perfect, has to be resilient.”
He added: “You have to be resilient when things don’t go well; you mustn’t give up when things don’t go well, and I think the team is resilient and will improve.”
Despite the slow beginning and the continued absence of Neymar, who is still not ready to return from a calf injury, Ancelotti backed his squad’s quality to shine through.
“The players’ self-criticism was constructive, and we’ve been working hard over the last few days to put things right, and I believe we’ll sort it out – sooner or later we’ll sort it out,” he said.
“I still believe this team will be competitive at the World Cup.”
Haiti coach Sebastien Migne knows more than most what it takes to beat Brazil at the World Cup. He was an assistant with Cameroon when they won 1-0 against Brazil in the group stage at the 2022 edition.
“Our team has everything to win. We haven’t been to a World Cup in 52 years and we are lucky enough to play against Brazil. It’s amazing for us, what a great opportunity, but we’ll need to rise to the challenge,” said Frenchman Migne.
His side lost 1-0 to Scotland in their opening game, but Migne saw reason to believe they can cause problems to their next two opponents.
“We showed that we deserve to be here at the World Cup. We didn’t steal our position here.”
