Brazil joined the list of big teams struggling to win their opening matches at the World Cup in Russia. The five-time champions were held to a 1-1 draw by Switzerland on Sunday (Jun 17), a few hours after four-time champion Germany was beaten by Mexico 1-0.
Switzerland held Brazil to a deserved 1-1 draw as one of the World Cup favourites again started the tournament slowly. Philippe Coutinho's curling stunner looked to kickstart the Selecao's campaign, but a well-drilled performance from the Swiss, and Steven Zuber's header, shared the spoils.
Brazil started strongly with Willian, Neymar and Coutinho all looking lively in the opening stages. The Paris Saint-Germain forward was also seemingly a target for Switzerland's tough tackling early on.
It was no surprise when Brazil broke the deadlock but the quality of the goal was stunning as Coutinho, known for his long-range strikes, beat Yann Sommer from 25 yards with a glorious curling effort.
Switzerland were battling to maintain their unbeaten record in opening games across the previous four tournaments, even beating eventual champions Spain in 2010, and reacted well to going behind.
Valon Behrami was nullifying Neymar in the middle of the park as Xherdan Shaqiri prevented Marcelo from roaming down Brazil's left to leave the first half on a far more even keel.
Switzerland kept up their approach in the second period and it paid divends when Zuber headed home Shaqiri's corner shortly after the restart.
It was as much as the Swiss deserved as they match Brazil in the middle and stiffled the threat out wide.
Behrami, Switzerland's most impressive performer, was withdrawn with 15 minutes remaining having been booked and complaining of a hamstring strain, and immediately Brazil almost went ahead.
Gabriel Jesus went down inside the area under pressure from Manuel Akanji but the referee, and VAR bodies elsewhere, waved played on despite strong appeals.
Roberto Firmino was introduced late on but failed to bring the spark Brazil needed as Switzerland earned a point in Rostov Arena.
Besides Brazil and Germany, Argentina was held to a 1-1 draw by Iceland on Saturday and Spain and Portugal played to a 3-3 draw on Friday.
Tite's squad next face Costa Rica on Friday in Saint Petersburg, while Switzerland faces Serbia in Kaliningrad on the same day. Serbia leads Group E after its 1-0 victory over Costa Rica.
