The Netherlands and Japan kicked off their respective 2026 World Cup campaigns against each other in a thrilling match on Sunday. While the first half was a bit cagey, the second half erupted into an electric atmosphere with end-to-end action.
At the final whistle, both sides shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw to begin their group stage adventure. At the end of the day, the Dutch will be a bit perturbed having thrown away two separate leads.
However, Japan never wilted and pushed until the end when they got their equaliser. Three Liverpool players were in the Netherlands Starting XI for this one, with two of them truly shining.
Let's see how Liverpool's Dutch contingent rated in the World Cup draw against Japan.
Virgil van Dijk - 7.5/10
The Dutch captain opened the scoring with a superb header to the far post early in the second half, as his positioning was perfect and he made exquisite contact on the ball.
For a lot of the first half, most of his work was passing the ball side-to-side or occasionally probing forward as the Japan low-block was causing the Dutch some frustrations. Van Dijk was calm and collected as always throughout though.
Defensively he took a backseat to Micky van de Ven and Jan Paul van Hecke who were both very active in the first 45 minutes of action, and that continued as the match wore on.
Van Dijk grew into the match himself, but with Japan pulling back a goal two different times, you have to knock the lead defender's rating just a bit, especially as their late tying goal came from a surprising cross into the box.
He was voted Man of the Match, but it surely wasn't his imperious best, and he and his countrymen will be disappointed at the draw. However, it was a solid start from the skipper, and nice to see him score on the big stage once again.
Ryan Gravenberch - 8/10
Gravenberch was largely bypassed in the opening half by the likes of Frenkie de Jong and Tijjani Rejinders, who were both active and probing throughout.
Having said that, Gravy really exploded into the match in the second half. In this match he was deployed on the right side of the midfield three, but was allowed to get forward more often than what we see him do at Liverpool.
It was his superb cross to the far post that found van Dijk for the Netherlands opening goal.
Soon after Japan leveled things once again, it was Gravenberch who was on the attack, as he split two defenders with some tidy footwork before laying off a clean pass to the oncoming Crysencio Summerville, who would finish wonderfully with a curled effort to the far post.
He was 22/25 passing in the match, but perhaps more importantly to note going forward, 20 of those 25 attempts came in the opposition half. His two assists were crucial and he has hit the ground running in North America.
Cody Gakpo - 6.5/10
The crowd that was hoping a return to the Netherlands setup would help Gakpo regain some form were left a bit wanting once again in this one.
While he found himself on the ball often, especially early on, it was a lot of what we have seen from him at Liverpool; namely posturing, posturing, cut to his right foot. He completed 75% of his passes, but only registered one key pass.
He had a clean shot on goal in the 36th minute but he skied it as he fell to the ground in his attempt. He only had one other shot in the match, so he was unable to really leave a mark on the action.
It's not the breathtaking start to a World Cup that he had in 2022, but matches against Sweden and Tunisia do offer Gakpo some hope of getting into a groove.
However, on this day, for the 2-2 draw with Japan, he did not offer much in terms of real danger nor did he take his lone best chance very well at all.
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