Eleven Minutes That Defined Martinelli’s World Cup 2026
The ball sat up just inside the box, three Japan shirts closing fast, and Gabriel Martinelli had about half a second to decide what to do with it. He took one touch to set himself, then bent the shot away from Zion Suzuki and into the bottom right corner. Ninety seconds later the referee blew full time. Brazil 2, Japan 1, and a substitute had saved Carlo Ancelotti’s night with virtually the last kick of normal time.
Brazil beat Japan 2-1 at NRG Stadium in Houston on June 29, 2026, in the round of 32 at the World Cup. Casemiro headed in an equalizer in the 56th minute, and Martinelli struck in the 95th minute to send Brazil into the last 16 against Ivory Coast or Norway. Martinelli had been on the field for less than thirty minutes when he won the match.
He was not meant to be the headline. Brazil beat Japan 2-1, with Kaishu Sano firing Japan ahead in the 29th minute, Casemiro leveling things with a header in the 56th, and Martinelli settling it deep into stoppage time. For long spells, this looked like Vinicius Junior’s match to win or lose. He had already forced a brilliant save out of Suzuki, the ball cannoning off the post after the keeper got the smallest touch.
Here’s the thing Martinelli barely touched the ball before the goal that won the game.
He came on for Matheus Cunha in the 66th minute with Brazil still searching for parity. Casemiro had already drawn things level by then. Martinelli spent the next half hour doing what wide forwards do during 1-1 World Cup knockout football: chasing half-chances, drifting inside, waiting. He fired one effort off target from 23 yards in the 77th minute. Nothing else. Then Bruno Guimaraes found pockets of space that had not existed for Brazil all evening, slid a pass into his path, and Martinelli did the rest.
The Arsenal forward only needed one true sight of goal all night, and he made it count completely.
Three years ago, Martinelli was still establishing himself as a regular starter at club level, a talented but unproven piece in a deep Brazil forward line that already included Vinicius, Neymar, and a queue of young attackers behind them. Tonight he did not start. He was the change Ancelotti reached for when the match needed deciding, and he delivered the only moment that mattered from the bench all night.
Brazil finished with 2.07 expected goals to Japan’s 0.33, a number that tells its own story about how comfortable this should have been. It was not comfortable. Japan sat deep, soaked up wave after wave, and very nearly got back to extra time with their structure intact. Make no mistake, Brazil were the better side for most of ninety minutes and still needed a 95th-minute finish from a player who had been on the pitch for less time than the warm-up.
Martinelli will not remember the 66 quiet minutes that preceded it.
He will remember the one touch, the bent finish, and Suzuki rooted to his line. For a player who has spent stretches of his career fighting for a clear role in Brazil’s forward picture, that single moment in Houston does something a season of solid performances cannot. It answers the question of whether he belongs in the biggest moments this country offers. Tonight, he did.