Brazil 3-0 Haiti: FIFA World Cup Match Report

Every goal in this match was scored before half-time. Brazil 3-0 Haiti finished with exactly the scoreline it carried at the interval, which is the clearest evidence available that the contest had stopped being one long before the hour, and that Brazil saw no reason to add to it.

Brazil arrived on a single point from their 1-1 draw with Morocco, a result that had made Group C considerably tighter than the seeding implied. Haiti arrived with none, having lost 1-0 to Scotland. The gap between the two was the widest in the group and the first half rendered it in full; the second, on the evidence of an unchanged score, was played at whatever tempo a three-goal lead permits.

Haiti finished the group with two scored, eight conceded and no points. Brazil finished with seven scored and one conceded, a goal difference built almost entirely on this match and the 3-0 win over Scotland that followed — the only goal against them having come in that opening draw with Morocco.

It moved Brazil to four points and effectively secured their passage with the Scotland fixture still to come. They won that 3-0 as well, closing the group on seven points with a plus-six goal difference and taking top spot from Morocco on goals rather than points, Morocco having also finished on seven.

That tiebreak is where this match earns its significance. Morocco beat Haiti 4-2 on the final matchday — one goal more than Brazil managed against the same opponent, but two conceded where Brazil conceded none. The two-goal gap between Brazil's 3-0 and Morocco's 4-2 is precisely the margin by which Group C was won.

Our pre-match call was Brazil -2 (Asian Handicap) at 1.80. The reasoning was that a straight Brazil win carried no value and the real question was margin, with rotation and Haiti's likely second-half fade as the arguments for three or more. The three-goal winning margin landed the line in full, with no partial refund required.

The mechanism, though, was not the one we described. We expected Brazil's depth to tell late as Haiti tired; instead the match was decided entirely before the interval and the second half produced nothing at all. Right number, wrong route. An Asian handicap does not distinguish between the two, and at 1.80 for a margin bet against the group's weakest side it was the correct place to take the risk.

Verdict: won