š“ Netherlands-Japan 0-0 | Italian duel, Malen v Suzuki š„ Two chances š¤Æ
· Yahoo Sports
At Boston Stadium, Koemanās Netherlands make their debut, considered by many as one of the tournamentās possible dark horses. Facing them is Moriyasuās Japan, appearing at the World Cup for the eighth time in their history.
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Group F is completed by Sweden and Tunisia, who will face each other later in the Italian night.
For the Netherlands, itās a chance to get off on the right foot and confirm their ambitions of being one of the main contenders; for Japan, meanwhile, itās an opportunity to send an immediate message to the group and keep alive the dream of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time.Ā
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š„ Japan with a double chance
Japan grow in confidence after the Netherlandsā strong start and try to threaten on the counterattack.
Shortly before half-time, the first chance for the Japanese falls to Nakamura, who sets himself and shoots right-footed from the edge of the box: the ball goes just wide to Verbruggenās right.
Shortly afterwards, Ueda tries his luck as well: he bursts down the right and shoots towards goal, but the effort is too angled and does not hit the target.
āļø An all-Italian duel: Malen vs Suzuki
An aggressive start from the Netherlands, who go close to taking the lead through Malen. In the 2nd minute, the Oranje forward finds space for a shot, but Zion Suzuki produces a great save to keep Japan in it.
Ronald Koemanās men keep pushing and create two consecutive headed chances in the 34th minute: first Malen tries again, then van de Ven has his turn. On both occasions, however, Suzuki is alert and keeps the game level.
ā OFFICIAL line-ups
NETHERLANDS (4-3-3):Ā Verbruggen; Dumfries, Van Hecke, Van Dijk, Van de Ven; De Jong, Garnvenberch, Reijnders; Summerville, Gakpo, Malen. Coach: Koeman.
JAPAN (3-4-2-1): Suzuki; Watanabe, Taniguchi, Ito; Doan, Kamada, Sano, Nakamura; Kubo, Maeda; Ueda. Coach: Moriyasu.
š Qualification and head-to-head
The Netherlands qualified for the 2026 World Cup by winning European qualifying Group G with 20 points. The Oranje recorded wins against Finland (2-0 and 4-0), Malta (8-0 and 4-0) and Lithuania (3-2 and 4-0), while drawing both matches against Poland (1-1 and 1-1).
It was also a dominant campaign for Japan. After winning Group B of the second Asian qualifying round with six wins from six matches against Myanmar, Syria and North Korea, Moriyasuās side also finished top of the third round with 23 points, ahead of Australia.
There have been three official meetings between the two national teams. The only one played at a World Cup dates back to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, when the Netherlands won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Wesley Sneijder. The other two meetings were friendlies: a 3-0 Dutch win in 2009 and a 2-2 draw in 2013.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in š®š¹ here.