A moment of such sweet, sweet iridescence at the end would have had the old Brazilian samba legends – the ones who left such a glorious trace on this competition – smiling and nodding with quiet satisfaction.
It was a case of Premier League Brazilians bestowing their gifts. From Bruno Guimaraes, the vision to see Gabriel Martinelli in his peripheral vision. From Martinelli, the faculty to control the ball with one foot and lever it out with the other to score, sending Brazil into the last 16 and leaving Japan’s valiant players, almost to a man, down on their haunches in a state of quiet devastation.
The tide of yellow flows on through this tournament and in some ways we give thanks, because a World Cup is always better with them in it. But the caveats are huge.
Gabriel Martinelli saved Brazil with a last-minute winner against Japan in the Round of 32
The strike sent the Houston Stadium into raptures – and saved Brazil from possible embarrassment
Not good enough, Brazil
The performance which had Brazil in arrears at the interval and heading towards extra time left so very to much be desired. It took the calculation of a wily Italian, their coach Carlo Ancelotti, to shake them from their torpitude. Vinicius Jr, their contemporary leader, crackled only intermittently into life. Neymar Jr, their old leader, did not materialise. The Japanese goalkeeper Zion Suzuki was the occasion’s outstanding player.
Japan forward Kento Shiogai’s recent hint that Brazil, beaten for the first time by the Samurai Blue last autumn, are no longer the dominant force they once were reflected a growing confidence. ‘We’re not doing what they call in England “mind games”.’ Ancelotti said before this match. ‘We’re focused on preparing well and avoiding problems.’
Well, the only mind games Hajime Moriyasu, his opposite number, went in for were tactical. Allowing Brazil possession. Forcing them to play through their four-man midfield and five-man defence. Pouncing when the moment presented. It helped that for 45 minutes, Moriyasu’s players encountered a dull, inhibited, listless Selecao; a parody and pale imitation of those greats.
Brazil were all lateral, crablike movement, processing the ball around the deep and yet not looking remotely capable of doing anything with it. Their efforts were akin to trying to open a wine bottle with a knife: lots of effort around the edges but no meaningful incision.
Casemiro first half horror show
No one seemed willing to take responsibility, either, and least of all Casemiro. When he stabbed lazily at a ball towards the end of the first half, allowing Daizen Maeda to burgle it from him, he began pointing, as if to say the fault lay beyond him. By then, the Manchester United midfielder had already upended Lucas Paqueta as they both went for the same ball and been booked for a poor tackle from behind on Junya Ito.
The need of crosses and supply from the wide areas, to bypass that congested midfield, screamed out, but wing-back Douglas Santos, the only one hugging the left touchline, was a remote figure, barely noticed by his own people at times. It was for Casemiro to find him. He didn’t see him there.
Casemiro picked up a yellow card in the first-half and could be blamed for Japan’s opener
But the Brazilian midfielder atoned for his error with a second-half header to equalise
Cool, calm Japan
The Japanese goal just before the half hour was a display of all the cool precision and spatial awareness that Brazil had lacked. A loose Danilo pass squandered, Kaishu Sano accepted the gift, progressed 20 yards and despatched a hard, low shot.
At the other end of the field Zion Suzuki was untroubled. A speculative Vinicius Jr shot from distance and something similar from Matheus Cunha was the best that the World Cup’s most storied nation had to offer. Japan hunted a second before half-time.
Ancelotti goes wide
Ancelotti and the collective national fury that his players risked heaping on themselves shook them from their sleep early in the second half. The significant difference was their use of the wide areas – something they’d apparently not been able to work out by themselves. Vinicius Jr operated far wider, frightening the Japanese when he came alive. Brazil began flooding Japan’s box.
What ensued from keeper Suzuki will be remembered from Tokyo to Nagasaki for many a long day. There was an instinctive save at point blank range, with Hiroki Ito and Takehiro Tomiyasu on hand to scramble the ball clear, before Casemiro seized on the height advantage, leapt unchallenged to meet Gabriel Magalhaes’ cross to equalise. Japan’s response to the goal was also significant. They formed a huddle in the centre circle to ask themselves how they could see off this torrent.
Worries for Vini Jr
The worry-lines on Vinicius Jr’s face told his story. He was the one being looked to for the spark, but the Japanese smothered him, three versus one at times. The match’s outstanding moment belonged to the no 7: a run, drag-back onto the inside and shot which Suzuki unfathomably managed to flick the ball onto the post. But he ran into walls and into corners, failing to outpace Yukinari Sugawara, rolling a ball straight to Junnosuke Suzuki on another.
He yearns for the affection of his nation and wept at the memory of his grandmother in one TV interview before this game. But few wear his shirts. Few chant his name. It will have to be better than this if the adventure is not to end in ignominy.
Vinicius Jr provided the moMent of the match with a jinking run that ended with him striking the post
But the Real Madrid man will have to do more if he’s to earn the adulation of the Brazilian fans
Japan retreat too much
In the final reckoning, Ancelotti was equipped with enough. Moriyasu subbed in new defenders to help fend off the Brazilians and make up for a difference in technical class but Japan ran out of energy and retreated into too much of a defensive shell. Suddenly there was space.
Martinelli intuited the pass Guimaraes was going to deliver and there was ice in his veins at the split second of execution. Unalloyed joy for Brazil and their football obsessive nation, but some soul-searching lies between now and an encounter with Norway or Ivory Coast.
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