Japan lose 2-1 to Brazil on a stoppage-time goal and go out in the round of 32

Six minutes from a shock

Japan went ahead in the 29th minute when Kaishu Sano struck for his first international goal, and for the best part of an hour they looked like producing a result no Asian side had managed against Brazil in a competitive game. Carlo Ancelotti's team did not draw level until the 56th minute, when Casemiro headed in at the back post. Even then Japan held the score at 1-1 deep into the match. The winner came in stoppage time, six minutes past the 90th: Bruno Guimaraes released Martinelli, and the Arsenal forward finished from close range into the right corner to make it 2-1. Japan had no time to respond. ESPN called it a night on which Brazil avoided one of the World Cup's biggest-ever shocks at the last moment.

The plan that nearly held

For the first half Hajime Moriyasu's five-man defensive block did its job. The wing-backs tucked in, Brazil were pushed wide, and the champions could not break through the middle. According to ESPN's match report, after the break Moriyasu reinforced the back line with the defenders Yukinari Sugawara and Junnosuke Suzuki, choosing to protect the lead rather than chase a second goal. That choice will be argued over, but the pattern of the night was clear: Brazil's pressure grew, the equalizer came, and the late winner followed. The control Japan had shown defending in the first half drained away in the second.

Through Group F unbeaten, then the champions

Japan had come out of Group F unbeaten in second place — a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands, a 4-0 win over Tunisia, and a 1-1 draw with Sweden. That solid, low-conceding run sent them into the round of 32 against Brazil, who had topped Group C. The team widely seen as the hardest possible draw was taken to the 96th minute before Japan were beaten.

Out before the last 16

Japan reached the last 16 at the previous four World Cups — 2002, 2010, 2018 and 2022 — but this time they went out in the round of 32, the first knockout round of the 48-team format. The margin was a single goal scored six minutes into stoppage time, against the most successful nation in the tournament's history. Sano's first goal for his country was the one bright mark on a night that ended in tears. Japan have no more matches at this World Cup.