Brazil –Japan – 2:1 (Casemiro, 56, Martinelli, 90+5 – Sano, 29).

The Japanese compensated for their lack of skill with extreme rigidity at the joints with the wizards of football. So, in the 12th minute, the chief referee of the match, Italian Maurizio Mariani, showed Kaisu Sano a yellow card after he pinned Vinicius' ankle with spikes. Although I had the right to show him the red one. Didn't decide? Why?

The favorites, as expected, flew to the Japanese goal and overdid it so much that in one episode they hit their player in the face with the ball. Japanese goalkeeper Jion Suzuki played very well on the exits – first he caught the ball in front of Vinicius' face, then after a cross from the standard he robbed Gabriel Magalhaes. The 23-year-old native of New Jersey felt like a fish in water in Houston. Interestingly, he is the son of a German and a Japanese woman, and plays for Parma in Italy.

The Japanese also had their chance from a promising standard, but Crystal Palace midfielder Daichi Kamada could not throw the "wall" against the goal. And Kaishu Sano suffered his own goal. I intercepted the ball in the center of the field, I was looking for the addressees, they were both on the right and on the left. This confused the defenders, while they were wondering who Sano would pass to, he decided to punch himself. And he definitely hit the corner of the goal of 33-year-old Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker.

The Brazilians responded by hitting Mateus Cunha right into Suzuki's hands. After a cross from Danilo, Casemiro shot his head from several meters away, but Suzuki pulled it out. On his second attempt, Casemiro hit Takehiro Tomiyasu in the chest with the ball. But the Manchester United midfielder doesn't play for the Red Devils for nothing - he's used to breaking diabolical bad luck with his tenacity. And when Vinicius rolled back Magalhaes, he hung onto the far post, where Casemiro shot Suzuki from the third pass. At the same time, the angle of fire was quite sharp, and the ball flew into the net. It was strange to see Suzuki, who was 190 cm tall, crouching down, afraid to miss into the bottom corner, and the ball flew into the upper corner, above his hands. How many times have I said: stand tall with the goalkeeper hugging the bar and the ball will fly into his forehead? But the goalkeepers squat or kneel before the kick. Why?

The Japanese were really hoping to put the game into overtime in order to try their luck in the penalty shootout. But the Brazilians had no desire to push their luck. In the fifth added minute of the second half, when trying to get out of defense through a shallow pass, Leeds midfielder Ao Tanaka lost the ball at his own goal, who came out in the 78th minute instead of Kamada. Bruno Guimaraes intercepted the ball, passed it to Martinelli in the center and he scored the winning goal.

Well, on the one hand, I feel sorry for the Asian representatives who heroically fought Brazil, but on the other hand, is it possible to play with the ball at your own goal in the last minutes of the second half? …