By Nick Said
HOUSTON, June 30 (Reuters) – Gabriel Martinelli took the plaudits after scoring Brazil’s last-minute winner against Japan in their round-of-32 fixture on Monday, but midfielder Bruno Guimaraes was the architect of the goal, continuing his rich vein of form at the World Cup.
It was Guimaraes’ fourth assist of the tournament, taking him to the top of the list of goal creators and another moment to savour for a player who can fly under the radar in a team with star names playing at the world’s biggest clubs.
Only Michael Ballack for Germany in 2002, Francesco Totti for Italy in 2006 and Juan Cuadrado for Colombia in 2014 have managed four assists at World Cups since the turn of the century. No-one has more.
Amid recent transfer interest in the Newcastle United player, with media reports linking him to Real Madrid, Manchester United and Arsenal in the past few months, Guimaraes is having the kind of tournament that can end in a big-money move.
Vinicius Junior, Matheus Cunha and now Martinelli have grabbed the goal-scoring headlines, but Brazil have a hard-working midfielder behind them pulling the strings.
“Bruno is a very important player, very consistent in the game, always making a very good contribution defensively and offensively. He provided a fantastic assist, and I’m very happy because Bruno has a very big heart,” coach Carlo Ancelotti said.
Brazil had struggled to play through a compact Japan all game. Their first goal via Casemiro came from a header at the back post.
But after Ao Tanaka lost possession on the edge of the box and the ball fell to Guimaraes in the 95th minute, he had the vision to pick out Martinelli and the latter scored the latest goal in a 90-minute World Cup knockout fixture.
“They were very compact, it was very difficult to get through. The coach asked us to put pressure on the edge of the area,” Guimaraes said, preferring to praise Martinelli rather than take any plaudits himself.
“It’s the team spirit, the group spirit. Martinelli is sensational, I’m very happy.”
Brazil will next play the winner of Tuesday’s round of 32 fixture between Ivory Coast and Norway in New Jersey on Sunday.
(Reporting by Nick SaidEditing by Toby Davis)
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