Netherlands 2-2 Japan Player Ratings: Ogawa's Late Strike Secures A Point For the Samurai Blue Against A Largely Dominant Dutch Side

Quite an end-to-end stuff at the Dallas Stadium as the Netherlands edge past Japan in their first match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. While the Dutch dominated the first half, the second half was quite even in terms of competition.

The Netherlands national football team were the better of the two teams in the first 45 minutes, with Donyell Malen getting three big chances to put Ronald Koeman's side ahead. However, Japan's goalkeeper, Zion Suzuki, was at the top of his game, thwarting most of the chances that came his way.

On the other hand, the Japan national football team failed to find their footing in the first half, with just one shot on target from Keito Nakamura, which went agonisingly wide off Verbruggen's far post.

The second half saw the game being more open. The Netherlands drew first blood through Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk, as Ryan Gravenberch's cross was headed home quite fiercely by the tall centre-back in the 50th minute.

Japan replied just four minutes later, as Keito Nakamura's stinging shot took a deflection off Jan Paul van Hecke to sneak under Bart Verbruggen's near post. Just when it seemed that the Asian giants were gradually growing into the game, the Netherlands stepped up.

Another assist from Ryan Gravenberch saw Crysencio Summervile cut in from the edge of the right-hand side of the penalty box, before curling one beautifully at the bottom left corner in the 64th minute to hand the Dutch the lead once again.

The Samurai Blue didn't lose hope and kept pushing for the equalizer. They were rewarded in the 89th minute as Koki Ogawa's header took a wicked deflection off his teammate Daichi Kamada, and went into the back of the net despite the efforts of Verbruggen.

Check out the Netherlands vs Japan Player Ratings below.

Key Takeaways

• Virgil van Dijk became the second-oldest scorer (34 years and 341 days) ever for the Netherlands after Giovanni van Bronckhorst (35 years and 151 days).
• Frenkie de Jong won the most ground duels in this game (5).
• Junya Ito recorded the most successful key passes in this group stage encounter (4).

Netherlands National Football Team Player Ratings vs Japan

Here are the Netherlands national football team player ratings from the Netherlands vs Japan Player Ratings.

Japan National Football Team Player Ratings vs Netherlands

Take a look at the Japan national football team player ratings from the Netherlands vs Japan Player Ratings.

Man of the Match

Ryan Gravenberch was the worst performer in this FIFA World Cup match.

Worst Performer

Bart Verbruggen was the worst performer from Netherlands vs Japan.