The Japanese national team refused to go out losing to its Dutch counterpart and emerged with a 2-2 draw, on Sunday, in an exciting match at the opening of the Group Six competitions of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which is being held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The Netherlands national team took the lead twice with goals from Virgil van Dijk and Crescencio Summerville in the 51st and 64th minutes, and its opponent responded with goals from Kaito Nakamura and Daichi Kamada in the 57th and 89th minutes, so each team got a point.
The Swedish national team will later play against Tunisia in the framework of the same group competitions.
With this draw, the Japanese national team broke the chain of historical superiority for the Netherlands by winning all six of its previous matches against Asian teams in the World Cup, grabbing a valuable point in the first World Cup match held in Dallas, Texas, since the famous match between the Netherlands and Brazil in the quarter-finals of the 1994 World Cup.
The Japanese national team also maintained its strong record for the third consecutive opening round in the World Cup, after defeating Colombia and Germany by one score, 2-1, at the start of its journey in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar, respectively.
The Netherlands national team will play against Sweden in an all-European match in the second round on June 20, while Japan will meet against Tunisia at dawn the next day.
