By the final whistle at the Singapore National Stadium, the football had almost been pushed into the background. Tatsuhiro Sakamoto had just given Japan a 3-2 win over Brazil in stoppage time, and the Brazil bench wanted answers.
Their complaint was about the build-up. João Gomes lost the ball under a challenge Brazil felt was a foul, but referee Jansen Foo, who had let plenty of contact go all evening, waved play on. Japan broke forward and Kodai Sano’s shot from distance was blocked. The loose ball sat up nicely for Sakamoto, who dinked it over Pedro Morisco for his first goal for his country.
The protests that followed cost Brazil dearly. Bruno Guimarães was booked straight after the goal, and a minute later Carlo Ancelotti was sent off. So was Raphinha, who had been substituted around 20 minutes earlier but was still on the touchline. Vinícius Júnior and Endrick had both been booked in the 87th minute, so tempers had been simmering for a while.
Japan's flying start
It was a heated ending to a match Japan had started at a sprint. Captain Ritsu Doan slipped Takefusa Kubo through in the 15th minute, and Kubo beat Morisco at his near post. Four minutes later, Shuto Nakano reached the byline and rolled the ball back for Keito Nakamura, who calmly found the bottom corner.
Brazil, who gave several players their first caps, needed a spark, and Vinícius provided it with a 33rd-minute strike, a venomous shot from range that flew into the top corner.
Zion Suzuki kept Japan ahead either side of the break with saves from Estêvão and Raphinha, but he had no answer in the 75th minute. Vinícius cut in from the left and curled a shot in off the far post. Endrick then hit the crossbar from distance, and for a spell Brazil looked the likelier winners.
What the coaches said
Ancelotti chose to focus on the fightback. “We conceded two goals, but afterwards the team reacted well,” he said. “We played well, with intensity and rhythm, and we tied the game. We could have won the game at the end with Endrick.”
Hajime Moriyasu saw the win as a sign of progress. “They tried to correct and improve on what we learned from the World Cup, and to turn those past experiences into victory and growth for the future,” he said.
Old ground, new ending
The result carried extra weight for Japan. Brazil knocked them out of the World Cup earlier this year, and the last time the two sides met at this stadium, in 2014, Neymar scored all four goals in a 4-0 Brazil win. This time, the blue-shirted majority among the 38,688 fans went home happy.
The Mizuho Blue Challenge ends on Tuesday with a double-header: Singapore face Brazil, and then Japan take on Paraguay.
