This is it: Brazil’s last game before the World Cup. One last chance to try new things without their failure causing an immediate crisis. One last chance to test the team’s approach to the Morocco game against an ostensibly comparable opponent.

Brazil vs. Egypt

Huntington Bank Field, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, June 6, 2026

Kickoff: 6:00 PM EDT / 7:00 PM BRT / 10:00 PM GMT

US TV/Streaming: ESPN Deportes, ESPN Unlimited (which I can’t believe they have the gall to charge thirty fucking dollars a month for)

Likely Starting XI: Alisson; Wesley, Marquinhos, Léo Pereira (Gabriel Magalhães), Douglas Santos; Casemiro, Bruno Guimarães; Lucas Paquetá, Igor Thiago, Vini Júnior, Raphinha.

On The Bench: Ederson, Weverton; Bad Danilo, Bremer, Alex Sandro; Good Danilo, Fabinho; Rayan, Endrick, Luiz Henrique, Gabriel Martinelli, Matheus Cunha.

Unavailable: Neymar, possibly Gabriel Magalhães (fatigue).

Notes and Storylines

The mood around the Seleção has understandably been a bit brighter this week, following an incredibly fun 6-2 thwacking of Panama in the team’s sendoff game at the Maracanã before flying to their base of operations in New Jersey. And the main takeaway from the game is pretty universal, judging from the memes I’ve seen flying around: Brazil blew Panama away in the second half, after switching from four forwards before the break to a three-man midfield of Fabinho, Good Danilo, and Lucas Paquetá, who had maybe his best-ever game in a yellow shirt.

There were definitely some confounding factors at play: Carlo Ancelotti made ten substitutions at the half, and those who came on for the second had both the benefit of playing against heavier Panamanian legs and the added motivation of mostly being bench players trying to make their case for more playing time. Or perhaps the difference came not from the switch in midfield but the change to a true focal-point striker, Igor Thiago, instead of the more nebulous web of false 9s and drifting forwards that comes with a front four of Vini, Matheus Cunha, Raphinha, and Luiz Henrique. On top of that, the first half definitely felt closer in part because Panama found a surprise equalizer through a ridiculous fluke goal (if one that only deepened my doubts around Alisson’s form).

Still, it was fresh vindication for all those of us who’ve found ourselves concerned at Ancelotti’s dogged insistence on playing a 4-2-4 and his only calling up five midfielders, leaving us basically no wiggle room to actually play a midfield three if it turned out that was something we might, at some point, want to do. Yes, Carlo had tried a three-man midfield on a couple of prior occasions to generally less success than the 4-2-4, but it always seemed, and still seems, insane to care so little for the midfield three as a contingency option. Forwards can work hard and run a lot, but they’re generally worse at putting in a shift in midfield than midfielders are at contributing in the final third.

As it stands, maybe our best hope of having a full midfield contingent is that Neymar proves to be vastly more physically fit than he by all appearances actually is, and that the technical staff realizes that he might be most valuable playing as a 10 and slipping balls through to the forwards, as Paquetá did so wonderfully last Sunday. As of last I heard, though, they seem to see him as more of a false 9, i.e., that role that Vini, Raphinha, Cunha et al. are already being tasked with, though it’s not like they’re playing it particularly well. It sounds like his recovery is a little ahead of where it seemed last week, but if he does end up having to be cut, it could make room for someone like (new Manchester United signing) Éderson to provide the depth this midfield so desperately needs.

Still, Ancelotti has taken to heart several of the apparent takeaways from the Panama game. The likely starting XI to face Egypt will have 4-5 changes from the one that started last Sunday: Marquinhos and Gabriel Magalhães (if he isn’t rested) are likely to reclaim their first-choice spots at center-back now that they’ve joined up with the rest of the team after the Champions League final; Douglas Santos is getting a look ahead of Alex Sandro at left-back; and most notably, Paquetá and Igor Thiago are getting a chance to show what they can do against better and less tired opposition, with Luiz Henrique and Matheus Cunha making way.

Despite differences in how different athletes have chosen to describe the resulting formation, it does sound like this will be a proper test of a three-man midfield. Ancelotti explained the changes by saying that the four-forwards system is “well consolidated” at this point and that “[he wants] to try a new alternative with this last test”. Of course, Paquetá has a tendency to operate in a quantum superposition between forward and midfielder, exhibiting the properties of both, but often collapsing into one or the other when observed directly, usually the one you don’t want him to be in that particular moment—but he really was excellent as a playmaker against Panama, playing something like half a dozen beautiful passes that set one of our forwards clear in behind the defense. And even if he isn’t a “true” midfielder, two “true” midfielders plus Paquetá is closer to a midfield three than would be two “true” midfielders and any other set of four forwards.

But the Igor Thiago experiment could also be super interesting, because Brazil has spent desperately little time recently playing with a defined striker, let alone a true target man. It did seem like Thiago was a big part of the secret sauce in the second half against Panama, not just for being willing to press high up the field (as he did for his assist on Rayan’s goal) or even to serve as a tall, strong reference point capable of fighting with defenders for 50/50 balls high up the field, but also for his ability to be the target of simple, straightforward through balls. He successfully got on the end of at least three of them, more than even the theoretically faster and more mobile Endrick. First was one from Paquetá, and while Igor flubbed his chance to control the ball and had to drift wide, he was able to cut it back for Paquetá to take a shot he really should have kept down. Then he won the penalty he converted for the fifth goal, running onto a feed from Fabinho (good to see that guy still has something left in his locker), nutmegging a defender, and taking the ball around the goalie to win the foul. Finally, in stoppage time, Paquetá put him clean through again for a chance he really should have buried. I still have some doubts about his raw scoring ability outside of his obvious gifts from the penalty spot, but, well, I have those doubts about just about everyone on this team. And if the attack functions better with him serving as its reference point, then he should be starting. Plus, there may be nobody in the squad with more fire in their heart for the Seleção than him. You see it in how hard he works on the pitch, as well as in his obvious, contagious enthusiasm every time he scores. He’s become a very easy guy to root for.

Now, as for the venue and opposition. This game is being held at the home stadium of the Cleveland Browns, or as it’s better known, Hell. I’m sure it’s a perfectly fine stadium, but I hope we get our business done and get out of there before we get too much of the Browns’ loser-stink on us. I’m sure Egypt feel the same way. Our games against have them have historically gone one of two ways: relatively staid, narrow clean-sheet victories, as in a 2011 friendly or the 2021 Olympic quarterfinal, or wacky games where we open up a big lead only for Egypt to almost complete the comeback, as in the 2009 Confederations Cup (we went up 3-1, Egypt equalized with two goals in a minute—there’s something about players named Zidan(e) and playing against Brazil, I guess—but we snatched the 4-3 win thanks to a stoppage-time penalty), or the 2012 Olympics (fuck, Oscar was so good, wasn’t he?). I’d lean toward, and be perfectly happy with, a 2-0 win, but given the doubts I still have around our defense and goalie, I think a 2-1 win is a more reasonable prediction.

Don’t get me wrong; I’ll take a bigger win. There’s something to be said for not wanting to peak too early, especially in such a long and grueling World Cup format, but after how iffy Brazil’s form has been for so long, and how uncertain I am that they even can make a deep run, I think it’s better if they’re good and fun right now. If they come out of Cleveland with good momentum which they then carry into the Morocco game, I will certainly not be worrying much about whether they’re peaking too soon.