World Cup 2026: ‘Results are everything’ â?? Japan’s Kaishu Sano after Brazil defeat

World Cup 2026: ‘Results are everything’ â?? Japan’s Kaishu Sano after Brazil defeat

Japan midfielder Kaishu Sano has offered a brutally honest assessment of the Samurai Blue’s World Cup exit, insisting that performing well is no substitute for winning after a dramatic stoppage-time defeat to Brazil.

Japan appeared to be on the verge of a historic result before Gabriel Martinelli scored a sixth-minute added-time winner to seal a 2-1 victory for the Selecao in the round of 32.

The defeat was particularly cruel given that Japan had taken the lead through Sano’s first-half strike and looked comfortable for large periods of the knockout clash.

However, Casemiro equalised for Brazil before Martinelli’s late intervention ended Japan’s campaign.

“I think results are everything, and I’m really disappointed because this team shouldn’t have ended like this. But to be beaten like that at the very end makes me feel like we’re not good enough, but what we’ve been doing isn’t wrong. I think we can be proud of what we’ve built up,” Sano said after the match.

The defeat marked Japan’s eighth World Cup appearance and their fifth exit at the round of 16 stage.

Despite a strong group-stage campaign that included a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands and a 4-0 victory over Tunisia, Hajime Moriyasu’s side fell short of matching their best-ever World Cup achievement.

“I never thought this team would end here,” defender Ko Itakura, who captained Japan in the absence of the injured Wataru Endo, admitted after the match.

Japan’s elimination compounds the ongoing disappointments for Asian teams in the tournament, leaving Australia as the continent’s sole remaining representative.

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