Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu named a squad featuring mainly European-based players for this round of international friendlies, including Aston Villa’s Zion Suzuki, Real Sociedad’s Takefusa Kubo and Bayern Munich’s Hiroki Ito, all of whom started the match.
Brazil, meanwhile, rested or did not call up several regular players, though they still boasted plenty of star power. Players like Alisson, Ederson, captain Marquinhos and Gabriel Martinelli were not in the squad.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti did, however, include heavyweights such as Barcelona’s Raphinha, Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr and Arsenal duo Gabriel and Bruno Guimaraes in his starting line-up.
The first real chance of the match came in the sixth minute when Estevao cut in from the right wing onto his left foot and tried to curl a shot into the bottom corner, but the ball went wide of Suzuki’s post.
Kubo broke the deadlock in the 15th minute after being put through on goal, his left-foot shot beating goalkeeper Pedro Morisco at his near post.
Daizen Maeda almost doubled Japan’s lead in the 17th minute, but the Japanese forward saw his effort saved after breaking through before putting his own rebound wide.
Japan did get their second goal in the 19th minute, doubling their lead. Defender Shuto Nakano’s cross from the right found winger Keito Nakamura in the box, who slotted the ball past Pedro to make it 2-0 and stun the Samba Boys.
Vinicius Jr halved the deficit in the 33rd minute as his long-range shot from outside the box flew past Suzuki into the top right corner. Just moments before this, Suzuki made a big save to deny Estevao when the winger was clear on goal.
Brazil’s coach Ancelotti grew animated on the touchline when his side was denied a penalty in the 43rd minute after Raphinha appeared to be pushed in the box, as the half ended 2-1 in Japan’s favour.