HOUSTON — Gabriel Martinelli scored the winning goal late in injury time to give five-time champion Brazil a 2-1 win over Japan in the round of 32 at the World Cup on Monday.
Martinelli, who had come on as a second-half substitute, scored in the sixth minute of stoppage time as the match appeared to be headed to extra time.
Brazil will next face either Ivory Coast or Norway on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the round of 16.
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Casemiro had earlier equalized on a header in the 56th minute off an assist from Gabriel Magalhães after just missing another chance two minutes earlier. The shot sailed just out of reach of the outstretched hand of Japan goalkeeper Zion Suzuki and into the net.
Kaishu Sano stole a misplaced pass at midfield and took it down the field before a right-footed shot from above the half circle put Japan ahead in the 29th minute.
Vinícius Júnior, who has scored four goals so far in this year’s tournament, had a chance to put Brazil on top in the 58th minute but his shot from the left box was deflected by Suzuki and went off the far post.
Casemiro left in the first minute of second-half stoppage time with what appeared to be a leg injury.
Brazil had two chances to even the score early in the second half before breaking through. On the first one, Suzuki blocked a header from Bruno Guimarães in the 52nd minute. Soon after, Casemiro’s header bounced off a defender’s head and Suzuki’s face. Suzuki finished with four saves.
Japan has never won a knockout match at the World Cup.
The win was Brazil’s 12th in 15 games against Japan. The teams have also played to two draws while Japan got its first win in the series in a friendly in Tokyo in October.
This was a matchup between two countries with deep ties, with Brazil being home to about 2.7 million Japanese descendants, which is the largest Japanese population outside of Japan.
Those ties extend to soccer where Brazil superstar Zico moved to Japan in 1991 to play for Kashima Antlers and help build Japan’s professional soccer network. He coached the Japan national team from 2002 to 2006, leading the team to the World Cup in 2006.
That team lost to Brazil 4-1 in the only previous meeting between the teams at the World Cup.
Brazil won Group C after a draw with Morocco and victories over Haiti and Scotland. Monday’s victory came on the anniversary of its first World Cup championship in Sweden in 1958, when a 17-year-old Pelé scored two goals in the final against the host country.
Japan reached the round of 32 as runner-up in Group F after draws with the Netherlands and Sweden and a win over Tunisia. The loss snaps a 10-game unbeaten streak back to a 2-0 loss to the United States in September.
