Vinicius Junior heated up the yellow-green last-minute party as a wild entertainer, Neymar tore off his pink shirt in the storm of celebration. Houston’s World Cup stadium became a gigantic sambodrome as Brazil kept their World Cup dream alive with a show of strength. Only Carlo Ancelotti – he cleaned his glasses as if nothing had happened.
It was a tough piece of work for the Seleção and their star coach – but in the end the record world champions deservedly made it to the round of 16 with a 2-1 (0-1) win against the long-indomitable Japanese. A very late joker goal from Gabriel Martinelli (90th + 5th) led Brazil to a victory of will and into a duel with Norway or Ivory Coast.
First international goal for Sano
“We didn’t lose patience after conceding the goal, we just kept playing,” said Ancelotti. “We did more for the game in the second half, and that paid off in the end.” Neymar? He would have “substituted him in extra time”, but that didn’t happen.
Japan goalkeeper Zion Suzuki and Brazilian central defender Gabriel Magalhaes Photo: Alex Slitz/Getty Images via AFP
But a Bundesliga professional made the favorites tremble in front of 68,777 spectators. Kaishu Sano from Mainz scored his first international goal for Japan after a solo run (29th), and the Seleção were in fear. Only Casemiro (56th) calmed the nerves with his header – and Martinelli, who came on as a substitute in the 66th minute, did the rest.
For the first time, Ancelotti had used the same eleven as in the previous game, Neymar was back on the bench after his emotional joker comeback against Scotland (3-0). “Let’s go, Brazil, all together!” wrote the great Ronaldinho, who was cheering in the stands along with the 2002 world champions Ronaldo and Cafú.
No surprise
The last meeting between the two unbeaten teams in the group stage was won by Japan 3-2 in a friendly in October 2025 after being 2-0 down. And even though the Brazilian team was completely different back then, the four-time Asian champions have long been able to “beat any world-class team,” said Mats Hummels on MagentaTV. He predicted a surprise victory.
He didn’t seem so bad about that. In the atmospheric “home game”, Brazil started dominantly and had their first opportunities through Bruno Guimarães (2nd) and former Bundesliga professional Matheus Cunha (14th). Sano was also lucky when he took Cunha off his feet in the penalty area and the Italian referee Maurizio Mariani did not award a penalty and a yellow-red decision (23′).
Casemiro scored the equalizer Photo: Lars Baron/Getty Images via AFP
Six minutes later, however, the Mainz player intercepted a bad pass from Danilo on the halfway line, evaded Casemiro and slotted in from 20 meters at full speed. Brazil was shocked – and only picked up momentum after the break. Guimarães (52′) and Casemiro (54′) were initially denied by the brilliant Japanese keeper Zion Suzuki, before Casemiro broke the spell with his powerful header. Just two minutes later, Vinicius had the lead after a great solo, but Suzuki and the post were in the way.
Japan was put in a headlock and had only a few offensive actions left. Brazil pressed and after Japan won the ball, the distance was wide.
