Brazil’s Gabriel Martinelli celebrates scoring their second objective with teammates throughout the Fifa World Cup 2026 Spherical of 32 match between Brazil and Japan, Houston Stadium, Houston, Texas, US, June 29, 2026. — Reuters
HOUSTON: Brazil survived a World Cup last-32 scare after they fought again to beat Japan 2-1 after Gabriel Martinelli squeezed in a shot on the far publish deep in stoppage time on Monday.
Brazil, who will subsequent face Norway or Ivory Coast in New Jersey on Sunday, improved after the break with Japan taking an early lead and shackling the assault of the five-times champions for a lot of the opening interval.
Martinelli’s winner within the ninety fifth minute got here on the finish of a tense match and was the most recent successful objective in regular time of a World Cup knockout sport since 1966. Brazil gamers and workers hugged one another on the pitch after the match because the Japanese gamers watched on in disbelief.
“I can’t explain how I feel,” Martinelli stated. “It’ll only really sink in a while. Thank God I managed to score the goal today. I’m so happy for the team, who gave it their all. I’m lost for words.”
Japan’s Kaishu Sano shocked Brazil after 29 minutes when he intercepted Danilo’s misplaced go earlier than driving towards objective and rifling a shot previous goalkeeper Alisson Becker to ship the outnumbered Samurai Blue followers into delirium.
Japan placed on a first-half defensive masterclass as they sucked up strain with defenders flying across the pitch, breaking apart passes and shutting down house any time a Brazilian participant had the ball.
Extra urgency
Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti should have stated one thing at halftime as his gamers got here out with a way of urgency and created quite a lot of possibilities, pushing ahead at a quicker tempo and loading the field.
“We didn’t lose our patience, we had a lot of resources on the pitch and on the bench,” Ancelotti stated. “Japan isn’t an easy opponent. It’s very organised and intense.
“I used to be saving Neymar for additional time. He was going to enter the pitch on minute 105 if we hadn’t scored the second objective. I did not need to change the construction as a result of the workforce was taking part in nicely.”
Brazil, nevertheless, didn’t want their all-time main scorer and equalised when Casemiro, who had missed a golden likelihood moments earlier, outjumped his marker to nod in a far-post header within the 56th minute from a Gabriel Magalhaes cross.
Vinicius Jr appeared like he had discovered the winner when his mazy run ended with Japan goalkeeper Zion Suzuki brilliantly pushing a shot on to the publish a lot to the disbelief of a sea of yellow-clad supporters within the packed stadium.
Japan gamers regrouped and stored Brazil at bay till Bruno Guimaraes obtained the ball on the sting of the field earlier than hesitating after which slipping it via to Martinelli who made no mistake with a scientific end.
The end result denied Japan a first-ever World Cup knockout win and Brazil stayed on track to achieve the quarter-finals once more as they’ve in each match since a last-16 exit in 1990.
