Endrick decisive as Brazil beat Croatia before squad call-up | OneFootball

Brazil bounced back from the loss to France and beat Croatia 3-1 this Tuesday in a friendly warm-up for the World Cup, played in Orlando, United States. Brazil’s goals were scored by Danilo, Igor Thiago and Gabriel Martinelli, while Majer pulled one back for the Europeans.

Endrick decisive

The young striker Endrick played a decisive role in the win. He won the penalty converted by Igor Thiago when the match was still tied at 1-1 and also provided the assist for the Seleção’s third goal, scored by Gabriel Martinelli.

Final notes

This was Brazil’s final test before coach Carlo Ancelotti announces the final squad for the 2026 World Cup. The list will be released on May 18, less than 50 days from now.

📋 Match summary

🟢🟡🔵 BRAZIL 3 X 1 CROATIA 🔴⚪🔵

🏆 Competition: Friendly 🏟️ Venue: Camping World Stadium, Orlando (USA) 📅 Date: March 31, 2026 (Tuesday) ⏰ Kickoff time: 9 p.m. (Brasília time) 👥 Attendance: 46,398 fans 🟨 Yellow cards: Perisic, Caleta-Car and Vuskovic (Croatia); Casemiro (Brazil) 🟥 Red cards: None

Officials

Goals:

🟢🟡🔵 Brazil

Bento; Ibañez (Danilo), Marquinhos, Léo Pereira and Douglas Santos (Kaiki Bruno); Casemiro (Fabinho) and Danilo (Andrey Santos); Luiz Henrique (Rayan), Vinícius Júnior (Gabriel Martinelli), Matheus Cunha (Endrick) and João Pedro (Igor Thiago). Coach: Carlo Ancelotti

🔴⚪🔵 Croatia

Livakovic; Stanisic, Sutalo, Caleta-Car (Pongracic) and Vuskovic (Smolcic); Modric (Moro) and Sucic (Fruk); Kramaric (Pasalic), Baturina (Majer) and Perisic (Pasalic); Budimir (Musa). Coach: Zlatko Dalic

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How the match unfolded

The start of the match was sluggish, but Brazil finally created danger in the 20th minute of the first half. Modric played a bad pass out from the back and gave the ball away to Vinícius Júnior, who found Danilo alone inside the box. He hit it first time, but Livakovic made a good save.

Brazil threatened again in the 23rd minute. From a set play, Danilo took a free kick with a low pass to Matheus Cunha, who tried his luck from the edge of the box. The ball deflected off the defense and shaved the post.

Brazil wasted another chance in the 35th minute. Casemiro won the ball from Modric in midfield and passed to Matheus Cunha, who slipped it through to João Pedro. The striker went one-on-one with Livakovic and fired from point-blank range, but the Croatian goalkeeper made a great save. The keeper came up big again in the 41st minute, when Luiz Henrique burst down the right and switched it to Vini Júnior, who laid it off to Matheus Cunha. The forward shot toward the corner, but Livakovic stretched out and parried it away.

In the 45th minute, it was Croatia’s turn to threaten. Modric swung a free kick into the box for Vuskovic, whose header was stopped by Bento. A minute later, Matheus Cunha picked out a fine long ball for Vini Júnior, who carried it into the box, beat his marker and squared it for Danilo, who made no mistake this time and found the net: 1-0 Brazil.

Second half

Brazil dropped back in the second half and ended up paying the price in the 38th minute. Fruk advanced down the right and played it to Majer, who took advantage of a mistake by goalkeeper Bento and sent it into the net. Brazil responded quickly, in the 40th minute. Endrick was brought down by Sutalo inside the box and won a penalty. Igor Thiago converted the spot kick and restored Brazil’s lead.

Brazil still had time to score a third. In the 46th minute, Endrick broke forward on the counterattack and set up Gabriel Martinelli, who fired a shot across goal to extend Brazil’s lead and seal the final score.

Brazil’s schedule before the World Cup

Brazil’s squad list for the 2026 World Cup will be announced by Carlo Ancelotti on May 18. On May 25, the group will begin preparations for the tournament at Granja Comary, in Teresópolis, Rio de Janeiro.

The team’s final match on home soil will be on May 31, against Panama, at the Maracanã. The squad will travel to the United States on June 1 and will have one final test before the start of the World Cup, against Egypt in Cleveland on June 6.

Brazil are in Group C at the World Cup. The group also features Morocco, Haiti and Scotland.

Brazil’s opener will be on June 13 against Morocco, in New Jersey. Six days later, on June 19, the team will face Haiti in Philadelphia. The Seleção will wrap up its group-stage campaign on June 24 against Scotland in Miami.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.