Kamada strikes late as Japan hold the Netherlands in a 2-2 World Cup thriller

For 50 minutes this looked like the kind of World Cup opener that puts a crowd to sleep. Then it produced four goals in a little over half an hour and a finish that left the Netherlands staring at the floor. Japan came back twice in Dallas to earn a 2-2 draw on June 14, and the manner of the second equaliser, two minutes from time, told you which side walked away happier.

A slow burn, then the floodgates

The first half had almost nothing in it. Both sides felt their way into the tournament, wary of the early mistake, and the teams went in level at the break without a goal worth replaying. Whatever was said in the dressing rooms changed the game completely, because the second half was a different sport.

Virgil van Dijk settled it, or so it seemed. The Netherlands captain climbed highest to meet a Ryan Gravenberch cross in the 51st minute and powered a header home, the sort of set-piece authority the Dutch will want to lean on all summer. The lead lasted six minutes.

Japan refuse to fold

Keito Nakamura answered almost immediately. His strike from the edge of the box took a deflection and looped into the bottom corner in the 57th minute, the kind of goal that feels harsh on a goalkeeper and is celebrated all the same. Japan had announced they were not here to make up the numbers.

The Netherlands found another gear and a better goal. Crysencio Summerville picked the ball up and curled a finish beyond Zion Suzuki in the 64th minute, a moment of real quality that should have been the winning blow. For 25 minutes it looked like being exactly that.

Japan kept coming. With two minutes left on the clock, Junya Ito swung in a corner, Koki Ogawa rose to flick it on, and the ball bounced off Daichi Kamada and over the line. It was not the cleanest goal Kamada will ever score, and he will not care in the slightest. Both of Japan’s goals carried an element of fortune, but they earned the right to that luck by refusing to stop chasing the game.

A point that means more to one side

A draw reads as fair on the balance of the 90 minutes, yet it will sit very differently in the two camps. Japan have made a habit of unsettling Europe’s bigger names at World Cups, and snatching a point off a side ranked among the contenders is the sort of result that sets the tone for a group campaign. The Samurai Blue look like a problem nobody in Group F will enjoy facing.

For the Netherlands, two points dropped from a winning position is a worry they could do without on day one. They were the better team for long stretches and still found a way to concede twice, and conceding from a late corner is exactly the soft spot good sides punish. Ronald Koeman’s men are up and running, but they have given themselves something to fix before the group gets harder.

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