Brazil Crushes Scotland 3-0 — Canada Advance Despite Loss to Switzerland as World Cup Groups Near End

Wednesday's World Cup action was a mixed bag of heartbreak, history, and a Brazilian masterclass — and depending on where your loyalties sit, you'll feel this one differently.

Brazil 3-0 Scotland — Group C

If you're a Scotland fan, look away now. The Tartan Army needed at least a draw in Miami to seal their place in the knockout round for the first time at a major tournament. Instead, they gift-wrapped the game for Brazil inside seven minutes.

Defender Scott McKenna tried to play out from the back under pressure, his clearance was blocked, and the ball rolled straight to Vinícius Júnior — who calmly rounded goalkeeper Angus Gunn and slotted home. A self-inflicted wound right from the off. Vinícius then had a second disallowed by VAR for a foul, but Scotland couldn't catch a break: he headed in again just before half-time, with the goalkeeper and right-back both at fault. Matheus Cunha wrapped it up on the hour, and Brazil cruised home 3-0. Oh, and Neymar came on as a late sub — his fourth consecutive World Cup — to the delight of the massive Brazilian crowd in the stadium.

Vinícius Júnior has now scored in all three group games, putting him in elite company: he's only the fifth Brazilian ever to do that in a World Cup group stage, after Jairzinho, Romário, Ronaldo, and Rivaldo. On every one of those previous occasions, Brazil went on to lift the trophy. Worth noting.

Brazil top Group C and will face the runners-up from Group F in Houston on June 29. Scotland, on the other hand, are heading home — almost certainly. With a -3 goal difference, they'd need a near-miracle combination of results to sneak through as one of the eight best third-placed teams. Scotland manager Steve Clarke summed it up bluntly: "We lost poor goals at poor times against a team with quality who can punish you."

Switzerland 2-1 Canada — Group B (but Canada still advance!)

Here's the weird, wonderful thing about the expanded 48-team World Cup format: you can lose and still go through. That's exactly what happened to Canada.

Switzerland won the group match 2-1 in Vancouver, with Rubén Vargas and Johan Manzambi scoring second-half goals for the Swiss. Promise David pulled one back for Canada late on, but it wasn't enough to change the result. Switzerland finished top of Group B on seven points.

But Canada? They're still through — making the Round of 32 for the very first time in their history. Before this tournament, Canada had never won a single World Cup match. Now they're in the knockouts. They'll play the runner-up from Group A on Monday in Los Angeles. A bittersweet afternoon in Vancouver for sure, but a genuinely historic milestone for Canadian football.

The bigger picture from Thursday

Elsewhere on the same matchday, Bosnia and Herzegovina beat Qatar 3-1 to wrap up third in Group B, and Morocco came from behind twice to beat Haiti 4-2 in a wild match in Atlanta. Haiti became the first team officially eliminated from the 48-team tournament — their first World Cup exit in over five decades. Morocco finished level on seven points with Brazil in Group C but are runners-up on goal difference.

The group stage is almost done, and the field is rapidly taking shape. The big storylines heading into the knockouts: Can Brazil keep this momentum and go all the way? Will Scotland's World Cup dream die quietly on Sunday? And how far can a historic Canada side go on home soil?