Japan score in injury time to stun Brazil 3-2 in Singapore

Substitute Tatsuhiro Sakamoto netted his first international goal with a late winner as Japan edged Brazil 3-2 in a thrilling friendly at the National Stadium in Singapore on Saturday. A brilliant brace by Vinicius Junior had erased a two-goal deficit after strikes by Takefusa Kubo and Keito Nakamura put the Samurai Blue 2-0 up in the opening 19 minutes.

But Sakamoto was in the right place to fire home after latching on to Kodai Sano’s deflected effort in stoppage time to give the Asian side a dramatic victory in front of 38,688 fans. In the first meeting between the teams since Brazil’s 2-1 win in the round of 32 at the World Cup in June, the Samurai Blue seized the early initiative with two goals in a torrid four-minute spell.

On 15 minutes, a through ball by Ritsu Doan was picked up just inside the Brazilian half by Kubo who showed quick feet to cut inside Jair before firing a low effort past goalkeeper Pedro Morisco. Japan added another shortly afterwards after some fine work by Shuto Nakano, who broke down the right flank and centred for an unmarked Nakamura to calmly place a right-footed shot into the bottom corner of the net.

Brazil responded with a magnificent goal by Vinicius in the 33rd minute. Zion Suzuki had made an excellent stop to deny Estevao when he bore down on goal, but the Japan goalkeeper could do little when the ball fell to Vinicius who found the top corner with a right-footed diagonal drive. Suzuki made good stops to deny Brazilian debutant Andre just before half-time and skipper Raphinha after the interval as Japan clung to their narrow lead.

But the Selecao were not to be denied and Vinicius put them back on level terms in the 75th minute with another fine finish as he cut in from the left flank and launched a low right-footed effort that found the net off the right post. Brazil went close to grabbing the winner as substitute Endrick rocked the crossbar with a fierce effort and Joao Gomes sent a low shot narrowly wide.

But in stoppage time, an effort by Kodai Sano took a fortunate bounce off a defender and fell nicely for Sakamoto to send the ball past Pedro Morisco. Brazil appealed for a foul in the build-up to the goal but VAR upheld the goal and Raphinha and manager Carlo Ancelotti were shown red card for their protests. Japan head coach Hajime Moriyasu is expected to step down after a friendly against Paraguay next Tuesday, but the 58-year-old is looking forward to handing over to successor Go Oiwa after a performance he described as the best of his tenure.

“I’m happy that I can say that today’s match was the best match in my eight-year tenure,” he said. “While we couldn’t beat Brazil in the World Cup, we managed to show today what we could have done, and it will be a good build-up for the team for the future. “Now I need to pass the baton to the next coach, and that’s all I am focusing on.” For Ancelotti, the work will go after what he saw as an encouraging performance by his youthful side.

“Apart from the result, I think for 70 minutes we played well,” said the Italian. “We played what we wanted to do, play with intensity. I am satisfied with the game we played, apart from the start, which was not good.”