Martinelli stoppage-time – Gabriel Martinelli scored in the sixth minute of stoppage time as Brazil beat Japan 2-1 in the World Cup Round of 32 on Monday, setting up a Round of 16 clash in East Rutherford.
HOUSTON — The match had already begun to feel like it might slip away into extra time. until Gabriel Martinelli found the space and the moment. With the clock into the sixth minute of stoppage time. the Brazilian substitute turned relief into reality. scoring the winning goal as five-time champion Brazil edged Japan 2-1 in the Round of 32 on Monday.
Brazil had needed the lift. Japan had struck first in the 29th minute when Kaishu Sano stole a misplaced pass at midfield and sprinted forward before firing a right-footed shot from above the half circle to put Japan ahead.
Brazil responded. Casemiro leveled in the 56th minute with a header after an assist from Gabriel Magalhães, just after he had already threatened two minutes earlier. His equalizer beat Japan goalkeeper Zion Suzuki, whose outstretched hand couldn’t stop the ball as it rolled into the net.
There were chances after that, too—ones that felt like they could have settled it earlier. In the 58th minute. Vinícius Júnior—who has scored four goals so far in this year’s tournament—had an opportunity to put Brazil in front. Suzuki got a piece of his shot from the left box, deflecting it away and off the far post.
Brazil pushed hard late, but the defining moment arrived only when the outcome seemed most uncertain. Martinelli’s late finish spared the tension of extra time and sent Brazil into the next round.
Casemiro’s night also carried a jolt of its own. He left the first minute of second-half stoppage time with what appeared to be a leg injury.
Suzuki kept Japan in it at key moments. Brazil had two chances to equal things early in the second half. starting when Suzuki blocked a header from Bruno Guimarães in the 52nd minute. Soon after, Casemiro’s header bounced off a defender’s head and then Suzuki’s face, before Suzuki recovered. He finished with four saves.
Brazil’s next match will come in the Round of 16 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday. They will face either the Ivory Coast or Norway.
Japan, meanwhile, will take home a harsh lesson. Japan has never won a knockout match at the World Cup, and this time their run ended after their loss snapped a 10-game unbeaten streak dating back to a 2-0 loss to the United States in September.
The result also carried weight in a meeting that goes beyond the pitch. Brazil has about 2.7 million Japanese descendants— the largest Japanese population outside of Japan. Those ties stretch into soccer history as well. with Zico moving to Japan in 1991 to play for Kashima Antlers and help build Japan’s professional network. Zico later coached the Japan national team from 2002-06, leading it to the World Cup in 2006.
That earlier connection between the teams still lives in memory: Japan’s 2006 squad lost to Brazil 4-1 in the only previous meeting between them at the World Cup.
Brazil entered the tournament’s second week with momentum. The team won Group C after a draw with Morocco and victories over Haiti and Scotland. Monday’s win arrived on the anniversary of Brazil’s first World Cup championship in Sweden in 1958. when a 17-year-old Pele scored two goals in the final against the host country.
Japan had reached the Round of 32 as runner-up in Group F, collecting draws with the Netherlands and Sweden and a win over Tunisia. But in Houston, it was Brazil’s late edge—Martinelli’s stoppage-time goal—that broke the deadlock and carried the home side onward.
World Cup Brazil vs Japan Gabriel Martinelli Casemiro Zion Suzuki Round of 32 East Rutherford Vinícius Júnior Kaishu Sano Zico