Martinelli’s stoppage-time winner saves Brazil from a Japan shock
The five-time champions trailed to Kaishu Sano’s opener before Casemiro and a last-gasp Gabriel Martinelli goal turned the round-of-32 tie around in Houston.
Jun 29, 2026
Brazil left it until the very last act in Houston, but Gabriel Martinelli’s strike deep into stoppage time rescued a 2-1 win over Japan and carried the five-time champions into the World Cup last 16. For an hour and more it looked like Carlo Ancelotti’s side were heading for one of the tournament’s great upsets.
Sano stuns the favourites
Japan had no fear of the famous yellow shirt. They pressed high, moved the ball quickly, and went ahead in the 29th minute when Kaishu Sano found space on the edge of the area and beat Alisson with a clean strike. The goal was no smash-and-grab either. Hajime Moriyasu’s team had carried a genuine threat from the opening exchanges, and at the break Brazil trailed and looked short of answers.
The prospect of Brazil losing a competitive match to an Asian side for the first time hung over the second half. Ancelotti needed his most experienced heads to drag the game back, and it was the oldest of them who responded.
Casemiro drags Brazil level
Casemiro got Brazil back on terms in the 56th minute, rising to head home and settle nerves that had been building in the stands and on the touchline. The equaliser changed the rhythm of the contest. Brazil pushed Japan deeper, the substitutes arrived, and the pressure grew with every attack. Japan held firm for long stretches and might have stolen a second on the counter, but the longer the game wore on, the more it tilted towards the favourites.
Martinelli has the final word
Just when extra time felt inevitable, Bruno Guimaraes slipped a pass through to Martinelli and the substitute steered his finish past the goalkeeper and in off the post to send the Brazilian bench sprinting down the touchline. The midfielder was at the heart of everything good about Brazil after the break and had a hand in the goal that mattered most.
Ancelotti will know this was a warning rather than a statement. Brazil were second best for long periods and needed a late goal to avoid the exit, hardly the form of a side billed among the favourites to lift the trophy. Japan, for their part, go home with plenty of credit, desperately unlucky to come up just short after troubling one of the giants of the game.
Brazil move on to the round of 16, where they will face the winner of Norway against Ivory Coast. On this evidence, Ancelotti has plenty to fix before the next test arrives.