The Oranje have earned a reputation for being notorious fast starters at football’s biggest tournament, but faced a Japan team which has already ruffled the feathers of some of Europe’s heavyweights in recent months.
Ronald Koeman’s side were looking to strike early on here, as Donyell Malen latched onto Cody Gakpo’s pass and forced a fine save by Zion Suzuki. The Blue Samurai responded when Shōgo Taniguchi made a surging run down the left and picked out Daizen Maeda, but the Celtic frontman was brilliantly challenged by Jan Paul van Hecke.
This was a slow burner of a contest that was taking a while to warm up, but the Dutch seemed most likely to break the deadlock. Tijjani Reijnders’ corner was floated towards Malen, who saw his header saved by Suzuki, before Micky van de Ven headed over after another delivery into the box from the Manchester City midfielder.
Japan’s best chances of the half came shortly before HT, as Keito Nakamura and Ayase Ueda both narrowly missed the target from inside the box.
Koeman’s side found the breakthrough in the 51st minute after Reijnders’ initial free-kick was cleared and the ball was played out to Ryan Gravenberch, who drifted a perfectly-weighted cross for Liverpool team-mate Virgil van Dijk to power home a header that clipped in off the post.
However, their lead lasted barely six minutes, as Nakamura took Takefuso Kubo’s ball into his stride and drilled a deflected shot past Bart Verbruggen at his near post.
This topsy-turvy second half then took another twist courtesy of a fine finish from Crysencio Summerville, who marked his first appearance at a major tournament with a wonderful left-footed strike which nestled in at the far post.
Kubo looked to take matters into his own hands in pursuit of another Japanese equaliser when his ferocious long-range effort flew just over the target.
But just when the Oranje looked to have held on for three crucial points, Hajime Moriyasu’s side netted an equaliser again in the 89th minute after Kōki Ogawa met Junya Ito's corner with a header which hit Daichi Kamada's before flying past Verbruggen.
This result ultimately extended the Oranje’s unbeaten run to 17 WC group stage games (W12, D5), but they will be left to rue what might have been after surrendering their lead. Meanwhile, this recovery will give Japan hope that they can live up to their dark horses tag after twice coming back from a goal down.