Martinelli wins it late for Brazil

japan were fine until that moment then everyones heads just went and brazil punished it straight away, you cant keep gifting these chances in stoppage time and expect it to end well
 
Martinelli coming off the bench and bagging late is such a football thing, proper chaos merchant behaviour and japan will be staring at the floor all night now
 
People are going to pile on Tanaka but that is such a lazy way to look at it because the whole sequence starts before the final mistake, Japan let Brazil keep hanging around and then one defender gets dragged into the spotlight when the real issue is the team as a whole not clearing their lines and not managing the moment, he is going to get all the abuse because fans love a single villain but it is always more complicated than that and it is harsh to turn one player into the entire story when Brazil still had to make the finish and the assist was excellent and that is the bit everyone will forget while they are busy calling him a clown
 
Brazil stayed patient and it paid off in the end. Japan defended well for long stretches, but once the pressure built they could not clear their lines cleanly and that was enough.
 
I know everyone wants to say Japan bottled it and yeah the late mistake is brutal but Brazil still had to keep pushing and keep believing and that is the part people ignore when they are looking for someone to blame because the game does not just hand you a stoppage time winner for free you have to make the run you have to make the pass and you have to stay alive in the box and that is what happened here and honestly that is why it hurts so much for Japan because they were right there and then it all goes in a second and suddenly the whole match feels like a disaster
 
Brazil were not at their best for much of the match, but they kept enough threat to punish a single error. Japan have been punished late again, which suggests a pattern rather than just one unlucky moment.
 
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