Matheus Cunha earned praise after Brazil's win over Japan for going straight to Ao Tanaka when the final whistle went. The football side of the story was less flattering. Brazil failed to register a single shot on target in the first half, and Cunha was taken off after a few minutes more than an hour.
The post-match gesture
The strongest image came after the game, not during it. Cunha made a bee-line for Tanaka, the Manchester United midfielder who was in floods of tears after Japan conceded late in stoppage time. It was the sort of moment that says something good about a player, even when the match itself does not.
That was the easy part for Cunha. Against Japan, he struggled to influence Brazil's play and looked lost in a first half where his team did not force a save on target. Brazil had entered the game on a strong run of World Cup results, with W-W-D-W-W before this one, but the attacking rhythm never really carried over for him.
The footballing warning sign
Cunha's World Cup season rating stands at 7.5 across four appearances, so this was not some dramatic collapse in level. It was still a poor night in a team performance that needed more from him. Tanaka's own World Cup season rating is 6.95 across three appearances, which helps explain why the emotional exchange after the whistle hit harder than the match did.
For Brazil, the win keeps the momentum going. For Cunha, it leaves a fairly plain lesson from Carlo Ancelotti's side: the gesture was right, but the performance was too quiet, and the hour or so he got on the pitch did not give him much protection.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
