Japan snatches a late point against the Netherlands

A yawn-inducing first half and a spectacular second half ultimately resulted in a fair 2-2 draw. The Dutch scored twice after the break, and the Asians equalized twice. Daichi Kamada’s equalizer came in the 89th minute, punishing the “Elftal” for switching to a defensive mindset too early.

Japan had gone more than 500 minutes without conceding a goal in their previous matches, having defeated Brazil and England, among others. Then, within a quarter of an hour, the ball found the back of the net past goalkeeper Zion Suzuki twice. Both captain and defensive leader Virgil van Dijk with a header (51st minute) and Crysencio Summerville, who replaced the injured Memphis Depay (64th minute), scored with precise shots off the inside post. In between, Keito Nakamura equalized.

In what is expected to be a strong and evenly matched group, which also includes Sweden and Tunisia, both teams were ultimately satisfied with the point. Japan has been unbeaten since last September and is now on an eight-game unbeaten streak, but played unusually passively in the first half. With their backs against the wall, however, the Blue Samurai showed that they are certainly capable of much more.

Match Report:

Netherlands – Japan 2–2 (0–0)

Dallas. – 69,285 spectators. – Referee: Elfath. – Goals: 51. van Dijk (Gravenberch) 1–0. 57. Nakamura (Kubo) 1–1. 64. Summerville (Gravenberch) 2–1. 88. Kamada (Ogawa) 2–2.

Netherlands: Verbruggen; Dumfries, van Hecke, van Dijk, van de Ven; Gravenberch (81. Aké), de Jong, Reijnders (70. Timber); Summerville (70. Koopmeiners), Malen (70. Depay), Gakpo (85. Brobbey).

Japan: Zion Suzuki; Watanabe (75. Tomiyasu), Taniguchi, Hiroki Ito; Doan (75. Sugawara), Sano, Kamada, Nakamura; Kubo (75. Ogawa), Maeda (66. Ito); Ueda (84. Shiogai).

Notes: Yellow cards: 61. Summerville. 83. Depay. 91. van de Ven.