Brazil 2-1 Japan : Ancelotti's touch inspires Seleçao to qualify against brave Japan

Brazil beat Japan 2-1 on Monday to reach the last 16 of the 2026 World Cup, but it was far from straightforward. Naming an unchanged starting lineup for the first time since taking charge, Carlo Ancelotti was forced to completely reinvent his attacking approach to break down the Asian side's defensive structure.

Facing a compact, organised team that prioritised protecting Brazil's strongest areas, Ancelotti turned to Endrick and Gabriel Martinelli as impact substitutes, and both proved decisive in changing the style of play and securing a second-half comeback.

Japan neutralise Brazil with a deep block — then strike with a high press

Despite dominating possession for long stretches, Brazil found it almost impossible to penetrate Japan's defensive shape. As expected, Hajime Moriyasu's side defended in a compact 5-4-1 and 5-3-2 hybrid, cutting off Brazil's routes through the middle.

Ancelotti's plan had been built on exploiting the space behind the defensive line with explosive wide forwards accelerating into the half-spaces. Japan systematically shut that option down. Their block was predominantly mid-to-low, allowing no room in behind for Vinicius Junior and Rayan to operate in the way they had against Scotland and Haiti.

Japan's defensive intent was clear: in their 5-3-2, they prioritised closing down the central midfield zone with their three central players. This denied Matheus Cunha, Bruno Guimaraes and Lucas Paqueta the space between the lines. The knock-on effects cascaded in sequence.

Japan closed down the middle to prevent Brazil from creating between the lines, but left gaps on the flanks. Paqueta and Guimaraes drifted out of the blocked central zone to offer passing options outside the defensive structure. Japan's three-man midfield line had the competence and organisation to shift sideways in line with the ball when Brazil played wide. With five defenders behind them, Japan could double up naturally on the flank with one of the midfielders pressing in support, which meant Brazil could not generate danger from wide positions either.

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Japan essentially conditioned Brazil into playing down the sides, knowing they could cope with it — and all the more so because Vinicius Junior was no longer being used as a traditional wide forward making individual runs from the touchline.

Ancelotti's idea of playing strong and vertical through the middle had worked against Haiti and Scotland. Against Japan, it forced both full-backs to take responsibility for providing width. Douglas Santos and Danilo — the more experienced, less explosive options in those positions — struggled to help the team progress in wide areas. Crucially, both of them also had their stronger foot on the inside, meaning when the ball reached either of them out wide, their instinct was to cut back towards the centre.

Japan took full advantage of Brazil's limited threat from the flanks and then shifted approach. After the first cooling break, Moriyasu's side raised their defensive line and pressed higher — and it was in exactly that moment that they scored.

Japan were aggressive in a 3-4-3 press and succeeded in cutting off all of Brazil's main short-passing options simultaneously: they closed down the centre-backs, the full-backs and the holding midfielders. It placed enormous pressure on Brazil's ability to play out from the back and produced the kind of scenario that resulted in the goal — a yellow-carded holding midfielder unable to make a foul, a poor pass from Danilo, and a low, accurate finish into the corner that recalled Kevin De Bruyne's strike at the 2018 World Cup.

Ancelotti changes shape and Brazil grow into the game on the flanks

Having identified the futility of continuing to try to play through Japan's midfield block, Ancelotti acted. With Paqueta forced off through injury in the first half, Endrick came on as a more traditional centre-forward, and Cunha was pushed back into midfield — a move Ancelotti had already tried in the group stage against Croatia.

The shift was not purely structural; it changed Brazil's collective behaviour. Rather than a false nine dropping deep to pull defenders out of position and create space in behind — the original plan — Endrick was a direct striker who demanded depth and occupied the defensive line's concentration. That in turn forced Brazil to commit to playing through the wide channels.

Vinicius Junior began to seek the ball closer to the touchline to attempt individual duels. The movements throughout the team transformed: wide players dropped deeper, central midfielders ran beyond and into the box, and Brazil began to manufacture crossing opportunities with regularity. It was that new structure that nearly produced a goal through a Suzuki save and eventually delivered Casemiro's equaliser.

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From that point, the logic was simple: use Brazil's physicality and aerial threat to generate low crosses into the back post against the grain of the Japanese defensive shape. Brazil attempted 40 crosses across the 90 minutes.

Once ahead, the behavioural shift in the match was immediate and pronounced. Brazil pushed harder and higher; Japan went into pure survival mode, replacing wingers with full-backs and compressing the defensive block. Brazil maintained their structure — high press when losing the ball, wide players stretching the pitch, central midfielders arriving late into the area.

That combination produced the second goal in stoppage time. Tanaka's loss of possession was partly individual error, but also a direct consequence of Rayan, Endrick and an entire high-press system being constructed around him. It was that press that allowed Bruno Guimaraes to receive the ball on the edge of the area unmarked and find Martinelli — introduced as a left midfielder and making a run into the box — to settle the tie.

Brazil were found out and made errors, but they had a manager with the tactical flexibility to rewrite the plan in real time and the character of players willing to atone. They will face the winner of the Ivory Coast versus Norway tie in the last 16 on Sunday 5 July at 9pm BST.