The Brazilian team had to go through 90 minutes of hardship against Japan before Gabriel Martinelli scored in injury time, helping Selecao win 2-1 and advance to the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti's team suddenly fell into a chasing position after Kaishu Sano opened the score for Japan in the 29th minute. The conceded goal put Brazil at risk of losing for the first time to an Asian representative in an official match.
In the second half, Casemiro spoke up at the right time with a header to equalize in the 56th minute, before Martinelli took advantage of Bruno Guimaraes' assist to score the decisive goal in injury time, ending a breathtaking comeback.
The victory helped Brazil avoid a major shock, but this performance also revealed many questions about the championship ambition of the team that has been crowned five times.
Brazil's starting lineup has an average age of nearly 30 years old, belonging to the oldest group in the tournament. Pillars such as Alisson, Danilo, Marquinhos, Douglas Santos and Casemiro have all turned 30, causing Selecao many difficulties against Japan's speed and youth in the first half.
Ancelotti assesses experience as a factor helping Brazil overcome difficult times, but reality also shows that the yellow-green team is lacking young players capable of making a difference in big matches.
Clearly, Brazil will need to significantly improve their speed and switching ability if they want to go deep. One of the disappointing names is Vinicius Junior. The Real Madrid striker continues to have an ineffective match in the national team jersey.
Despite having an excellent dribbling and finishing that forced goalkeeper Zion Suzuki to show his talent to save, Vinicius generally still lacked sharpness at decisive moments. After 53 matches for Brazil, he has only scored 13 goals, a relatively modest achievement compared to stars like Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane or Erling Haaland at the national team level.
Conversely, Casemiro once again proved his value. The header equalizer was the 34-year-old midfielder's 10th goal for Brazil, of which up to five goals came from aerial duels.
Not only scoring goals, the former Real Madrid player also played the role of leader in midfield, helping Brazil regain the game after halftime. However, Casemiro had to leave the field at the end of the match due to a groin injury, causing Ancelotti to face great worry before the round of 16.
Although completing the goal of going further, the performance against Japan shows that Brazil still has many problems to solve. Experience helps Selecao overcome the round of 32, but to aim for the sixth World Cup title, Ancelotti's army will have to play much more convincingly in the next challenges.
This is definitely our most complete match. In the first half, the team did not lose direction like in the draw with Morocco. In football, you must know how to accept difficult times. That is part of the game, as is the feeling of overcoming challenges" - Ancelotti said after the match.
