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Footage from Brazil-Panama friendly misrepresented as World Cup highlight

After Brazil drew 1-1 with Morocco in their opening game of the 2026 World Cup, Chinese social media users shared a video they falsely claimed showed the five-time winners' equaliser. The footage in fact shows Brazil's last goal in a 6-2 drubbing of Panama in Rio de Janeiro, two weeks before the Morocco match.

"Highlights from the '26 World Cup: Brazil vs Morocco. A spectacular showcase of Samba football -- truly magnificent," says the simplified Chinese caption of a Douyin video posted on June 13, 2026.

The video, which has been shared over 3,800 times, shows slow-motion footage of a Brazilian player wearing the number 18 scoring a goal against a team wearing an all-red kit.

<span>Screenshot of the false Douyin post captured on June 17, 2026, with a red X added by AFP</span>

The same video was also shared elsewhere on Douyin as well as in similar posts on Weibo, Threads and YouTube.

"I thought there was a monopoly preventing the sharing of World Cup clips? Yet here I am, stumbling across one," says a comment on one of the posts.

Another says, "Morocco was a semi-finalist in the last tournament; this time, they suffered a shock draw against Brazil."

The clip surfaced after five-time winners Brazil drew 1-1 with Morocco in their opening fixture of the 2026 World Cup (archived link).

The tournament -- the largest World Cup in history with 48 teams competing -- started on June 11 and will end on July 19. Matches are played in 16 host cities across the United States, Mexico and Canada (archived link).

While China did not qualify for the tournament, interest remains intense in the world's second most populous nation of around 1.4 billion people.

The country accounted for nearly half of all hours of viewing on digital and social platforms globally during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, according to world football's governing body FIFA (archived link).

But a comparison of the circulating footage with official highlights of the Brazil-Morocco match shows the highlight was taken from a different fixture.

Pre‑World Cup friendly

Official highlights of the match posted on FIFA's verified YouTube channel show Brazil's goal was different to the one shown in the falsely shared clip (archived link).

Brazil's goal was scored by Vinicius Junior, who was wearing the number seven shirt (archived link). The falsely shared clip shows a player wearing the number 18 scoring.

The highlights also show the Morocco kit comprises a red shirt and green shorts -- not all red as shown in the footage circulating on social media.

Moreover, the advertising boards at the moment the goal was scored in the falsely shared video differ from those seen in the official highlights video.

<span>Screenshots from the falsely shared video (L) and official highlights available on the FIFA YouTube channel</span>

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared footage led to an Instagram picture from June 1, captioned: "Danilo scores the 6th goal against Panama" (archived link).

The countries played a friendly on May 31 at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, with Brazil winning 6-2 (archived link).

The image shows the player celebrating his goal in the same manner seen in the falsely shared video.

<span>Screenshot of the falsely shared video (L) and the June 1 Instagram post</span>

A subsequent keyword search led to a video of the goal on Yahoo Sports, which was captioned: "Danilo showed great composure in the box, sending a defender the wrong way before finding the net as Brazil beat Panama 6-2 in a World Cup warm-up match at the Maracana" (archived link).

Highlights of the match were also available on the TNT Sports Brazil YouTube channel, with footage of the goal matching up with the falsely shared video (archived link).