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In the 60th second of the match, Paquetá collided with a Japanese player and immediately clutched his left hamstring with his left hand.
At the 60th second of the match, Paquetá collided with a Japanese player and immediately clamped his left hand over the back of his left thigh. He didn't fall, dragging that ruined leg for 44 grueling minutes. At halftime whistle, he hobbled down the tunnel. Xinhua's post-match assessment was ruthless—"injured and ineffective." Wounded and useless. An attacking midfielder whose body had already collapsed, yet he remained on the pitch, helplessly watching as Sano Kaishu slotted the ball into the net in the 29th minute. Brazil's midfield had degenerated into a gearbox grinding dry, missing a cog.
Ancelotti made a gamble at halftime: 19-year-old Endrick replaced Paquetá, the formation shifting directly from 4-3-3 to 4-2-4. He stripped away a layer of midfield depth, betting on sheer numbers up front to turn the game around. CGTN's comment was spot on: "There's a thin line between brave and reckless and Carlo Ancelotti walked it."
The gamble paid off. In the 55th minute, Gabriel Magalhães sent in a cross from the right flank, and Casemiro headed it in to level the score. Endrick, after coming on, did tear open Japan's defense with his physicality, finally giving Brazil's attack some depth.
But winning came at the cost of another body heading to the medical room. In the 93rd minute, Casemiro was also substituted, with Fabinho covering the final minutes. Yahoo Sports watched his gait as he walked off and wrote that he "appeared to have picked up an injury," suspected to be a leg issue, with the CBF yet to provide a definitive statement. Holding on until the 95th minute, Bruno Guimarães threaded a through ball, Martinelli scored the winner, 2-1. Brazil advanced to the Round of 16, but one knockout match cost them two starters. Ancelotti's hand is thinning with each passing game.
From before the tournament to this match, Brazil's injury withdrawal list has formed a chain. Right-back Wesley withdrew before the World Cup with a left adductor muscle strain, documented in black and white by CBF's MRI; Raphinha, in the group stage against Haiti on June 19, suffered a right hamstring tear before halftime, with a target return date of July 5, and it's still unknown whether he'll make it. Then came Paquetá, now with a suspected Casemiro. Four matches, and one by one, the legs in the starting lineup are breaking down.
Ten days ago, Paquetá sat in the interview room and said: "Brazil must restructure quickly to cope with Raphinha's injury." Ten days later, he became the one the team had to restructure around.
According to Transfermarkt data, Paquetá has suffered four muscle injuries over the past three seasons: hamstring sidelining him for 27 days, calf for 46 days, hip for 16 days, and ankle for 18 days. At 28 years old, he returned to Flamengo from West Ham United in January for 41.25 million euros, coming home with this World Cup in his sights. But muscle injuries have repeatedly fractured his rhythm.
Now, Ancelotti must cobble together a new starting lineup within three days. Sunday, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the Round of 16 against Norway. Neymar has a Grade 2 right calf strain and hasn't played since May 17. Ancelotti says publicly he's brought him along "without regret" and that he "could still play," but no one on the coaching staff dares gamble that calf can withstand the collisions from Norwegian defenders. Endrick can charge as a substitute, but starting him in a grinding battle is a different story entirely.
Ancelotti only uttered one line after the match: "The team didn't play well in the first half." He didn't say a word about Paquetá's injury. Paquetá's left thigh had already given the answer. Ancelotti can only grip this shattered lineup and head to New Jersey to bet against the Norwegians' physicality.