Brazil stuns Japan with late comeback, advances at World Cup

Brazil beat Japan 2-1 in Houston with a stoppage-time goal from Gabriel Martinelli, turning a match that looked headed in another direction after Kaishu Sano put Japan ahead in the 29th minute. Casemiro leveled in the 56th minute, and Martinelli delivered the winner in the 90+5 to send Brazil through to the next round.

Jorge Valdano highlighted the response as the kind Brazil has always been expected to produce, and he pointed to Carlo Ancelotti’s halftime adjustments as the turning point. FIFA said Ancelotti had asked for “mind, heart and clarity,” and Brazil needed all three to overturn a deficit against a disciplined Japan side.

The result gave Brazil a place in the round of 16, where it will face the winner of Côte d’Ivoire against Norway on July 5 at the New York New Jersey Stadium. It also sharpened the read on Ancelotti’s early months in charge, after he took over Brazil in 2025 and has been trying to shape a longer project rather than simply manage a single tournament run.

That longer view has been part of the conversation around the Italian manager since February 2026, when he said in Universo Valdano that he believed he would renew for four more years with Brazil and aim to build toward the 2030 World Cup. Against Japan, the immediate evidence was practical rather than theoretical: Brazil was behind, then equalized, then kept pressing until Martinelli found the decisive finish.

Casemiro’s equalizer carried added weight because FIFA named him Player of the Match, underscoring the veteran midfielder’s influence in a game that demanded control after the early setback. Martinelli’s strike was his fifth international goal and his third in the United States, a useful marker for a forward whose timing mattered as much as his finishing.

For Brazil, the late comeback offered more than survival. It showed a side capable of recovering under pressure, but it also left the larger test intact: whether Ancelotti can turn one dramatic rescue into a team that no longer has to be judged only against the weight of its own history.