A trio of wonderful goals were enough to keep alive Santos' dreams of lifting the 2011 Club World Cup with a 3-1 victory over Kashiwa Reysol, although the Sao Paulo side will have to play a tighter game if they are to triumph in a potential decider with Barcelona.
Neymar, Borges and Danilo all netted spectacular efforts from outside the area, but the Peixe showed an alarming lack of urgency at times; especially at the back, where inattention meant they were fortunate to concede just one goal from Hiroki Sakai.
The game started at a hectic pace, with Santos looking to go on the offensive from the first kick of the match and Reysol doing their best to contain them with an energetic pressing game. It took just four minutes for the Brazilians to threaten, however, with Neymar going within inches of opening the scoring.
The teenage sensation took advantage of slack defending by Naoya Kondo to go clean through, but his improvised shot bounced back off the post to the relief of the stranded Sugeno in goal. But there was nothing the man between the posts could do to stop the Peixe taking the lead midway through the first-half.
Perhaps inevitably, it was Neymar who did the damage. The striker received the ball on the edge of the area from Ganso, and a delicate touch left his marker prostrate and out of the game. He then released a wonderful curling shot, giving Sugeno no chance as the ball nestled in the top left corner for the game's first strike.
Just five minutes later the advantage was doubled, thanks to another inspired effort. There seemed to be little danger when Borges received a short ball from Durval; but the Brasileirao top scorer did well to open up some space and a perfectly placed effort once more left the goalkeeper with absolutely no chance. 2-0 after half an hour, and the J League champions were being overwhelmed by their opponents.
To their credit Reysol did not falter, and kept up their high-paced game pressuring Santos across the field. They came close through Jorge Wagner, who saw the goal open up for him towards the end of the half. Danilo made an excellent intervention, however, diving to divert his compatriot's effort to safety and ensure his team would go into the break with a two-goal cushion.
Santos started the second half as they did the first, seemingly in a hurry to kill off the tie. Danilo had a golden chance after Neymar's neat lay-off, but squandered his effort straight at Sugeno. Ganso's long-ranged effort also went close, but the Japanese were to have their reply seconds later.
Wagner's corner found the head of Hiroki Sakai, who took advantage of slack marking from the Santos men to angle the ball past Rafael and keep his team in the game.
Just when Reysol could see themselves make their way back against an increasingly sloppy Santos team, however, the Brazilians stepped up with another glorious strike. Danilo atoned for his earlier miss with a stinging free kick 30 metres out, which left Sugeno standing as it settled in the bottom-right corner.
The right-back was irrepressible and made another great intervention at the other end of the field, as time started to run out for Kashiwa to make an unlikely comeback. There was still life in the hosts though; Masakatsu Sawa was unlucky to see his shot rebound back off the post after some excellent approach play. Sawa then missed an incredible effort, blazing over with the goal at his mercy.
The game continued to fascinate, and Ganso almost added a fourth for Santos when his long-range strike bounced back off the bar. The Peixe progress into Sunday's final, and they will learn the identity of their opponents on Thursday after Barcelona's clash with Al Sadd.
