Tokyo comeback: Japan stuns Brazil 3-2 with second-half blitz in historic friendly at Tokyo Stadium
On an autumn night in Tokyo, with the reverberations of samba drums in one corner and the disciplined murmur of Japanese supporters in the other, two footballing cultures collided in a friendly that rarely felt friendly at all. Japan’s 3-2 comeback victory over Brazil at Tokyo Stadium was as much testament to rising ambition as it was to resilience, overturning a two-goal deficit to lift a nation’s hopes above the Tokyo skyline.
Brazil, ever the archetype of attacking expression, arrived basking in the afterglow of a 5-0 dismantling of South Korea days earlier—a performance that seemed more coronation than contest. Their pedigree, burnished by a recent 3-0 win over Chile and spoiled only by a surprise defeat in La Paz last month, had rarely looked so assured.
For Japan, the script leading into Tuesday offered less conviction but a gathering sense of possibility: draws against Paraguay and Mexico; a hard-fought loss to the United States; but two clean-sheet triumphs in the East Asian championship. Head coach Hajime Moriyasu’s side is used to feeling like outsiders on such nights, but circumstance—home soil, a storied opponent, and glimpses of progress—had set the stage for something unlikely.
The match, however, opened along expected lines. Brazil’s Paulo Henrique was first to leave his mark, latching onto a diagonal ball in the 26th minute and guiding a low finish past Zion Suzuki. Henrique’s movement, elusive and assured, sliced through the Japanese defensive block. Before the half-hour, Brazil pressed for a second. It arrived with Gabriel Martinelli—the Arsenal winger—darting in from the left to sweep home a rebound in the 32nd minute, the ball nestling into the bottom corner as if willed there by generations of Seleção attackers past.
At 2-0, Brazil already seemed to be managing the occasion rather than chasing it. Their midfield trio dictated tempo, and the match looked set to follow the familiar blueprint of Brazilian friendlies: control, entertain, and depart with another marker on their world tour ledger.
But the first embers of Japanese resistance flickered before halftime—interceptions in midfield, sharper runs from Takumi Minamino and Keito Nakamura, and a brief spell of sustained possession that drew applause from the local supporters. The promise was yet unfulfilled, but the mood had shifted.
The second half rewrote the night’s narrative. In the 52nd minute, Minamino began the comeback, pouncing on a loose ball after a fizzing cross from Junya Ito caromed off a Brazilian defender. The finish was clinical: low, first time, and past a sprawling Alisson. The stadium, suddenly believing, began to hum.
Brazil, rattled, lost their previous composure. Their normally assured passing grew ragged under Japan’s high press. In the 62nd, the equalizer arrived—Nakamura ghosted in at the far post, his header emphatic after Ito again found space on the right flank. The goal was met by a roar that seemed to shake even the stoic Tokyoites from their restraint.
Momentum, so often ethereal, became tangible. Brazil’s substitutions sought to stanch the tide, but Japan smelled vulnerability. The decisive blow fell in the 71st minute: a rapid counterattack sent Ayase Ueda streaking past the last defender, his shot angled just inside the far post, capping an extraordinary reversal. Ueda, who had salvaged a draw in Japan’s prior outing against Paraguay, now wrote his name into the annals of Japanese friendlies with a game-winner of rare poise.
The final twenty minutes saw Brazil push forward with urgency—Martinelli shaved the post with a curling effort in the 78th, substitute Rodrygo thundered wide from distance, and Vinícius Júnior drew a sprawling save from Suzuki in stoppage time. But Japan’s defensive discipline held, buoyed by an increasingly raucous crowd.
There were no red cards, but tempers frayed and fouls multiplied as Brazil chased parity. The final whistle drew an exhausted exhalation from the Japanese bench and a sprinkling of disbelief from neutral observers. For the home side, it was a statement—a first win over Brazil since 1996 and only their second in history, achieved in the most dramatic of fashions.
For manager Moriyasu, tonight’s victory feels like a culmination of steady work amid tougher recent results. It adds new weight to Japan’s recent run—draws against Paraguay and Mexico, and a loss to a resurgent U.S. squad now receding into the rearview. The forward line’s clinical edge and the defense’s late resolve will offer encouragement heading toward November’s fixtures.
Brazil, by contrast, will parse the consequences of a result that will sting, even in the forgiving context of a friendly. Their attacking fireworks from earlier in the week were blunted in Tokyo, their composure tested—and finally cracked—by a Japanese side growing bolder.
As the international window closes, both teams carry different lessons forward: for Japan, belief, and the knowledge that the gulf to the global giants can occasionally be bridged; for Brazil, a reminder that promise must be matched by perseverance, even on stages where the result, on paper, may seem inconsequential. If football is written in moments, then tonight in Tokyo, Japan claimed one that will echo well beyond October.