Get all the team news ahead of this captivating Group F game in Dallas.
The Netherlands and Japan meet in Group F’s opening match on Sunday – one of the most exciting clashes of the 2026 World Cup so far.
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AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, is the setting for a meeting between what is perhaps the best nation yet to win football’s biggest award – and many people’s favorite to become the championship’s sensational team.
The Oranje, led by the legendary Ronald Koeman, are aiming to go far in the tournament. The team has experienced both ups and downs in recent championships – from silver in 2010 to bronze in 2014, from not qualifying in 2018 to the quarterfinals four years later.
But they face a Japanese team in brilliant form. Samurai Blue blew through qualification for their eighth straight championship – scoring over 50 goals along the way.
Recent friendship results have only further strengthened our faith. Japan has six straight wins, including notable scalps like Brazil and England.
Netherlands team news
Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman is relying on the same starting eleven that beat Uzbekistan 2-1 in the Netherlands’ final pre-tournament warm-up match.
Memphis Depay, who is back from injury, starts on the bench.
Netherlands XI: Verbruggen; Dumfries, Van Hecke, Van Dijk, Van de Ven, Gravenberch, De Jong, Summerville, Reijnders, Gakpo, Malen
Japan Team News
Nine of Japan’s starting players in the win over England at Wembley back in March, also start here.
Takefusa Kubo and Daizen Maeda come in for Junya Ito and the injured Kaoru Mitoma.
Japan’s XI: Z. Suzuki; Watanabe, Taniguchi, H. Ito, Doan, Sano, Kamada, Nakamura, Kubo, Maeda, Ueda
Netherlands vs Japan Facts
- This will be the Netherlands’ 12th World Cup participation. No other team has been in the final as many times as the Dutch without ever winning the trophy (three times – 1974, 1978 and 2010).
- The Netherlands have won 54.5 percent of their matches at the World Cup (30 out of 55, excluding penalty shootouts), and only Brazil (66.7 percent) and Germany (60.7 percent) have a higher win percentage in the history of the tournament. The Dutch are also just four goals short of reaching 100 goals in the World Cup.
- Excluding penalty shootouts, the Netherlands have lost just one of their last 19 World Cup matches (14 wins, 4 draws). The only loss came in the 2010 final against Spain (0–1 after extra time). At the same time, their last defeat in the group stage was back in 1994, when they lost 0-1 to Belgium.
- This will be Japan’s eighth straight World Cup participation – a streak that stretches back to 1998. It is the second-longest streak of straight appearances by an Asian nation, behind South Korea’s current streak of 11 straight World Cup finals.
- Japan has never progressed beyond the last eight of a World Cup. In fact, they hold the record for the most games played without reaching the quarter-finals of the tournament (25 games).
- Japan scored more goals than any other team in the AFC 2026 World Cup qualifiers – finding the back of the net 54 times, which includes a 3-0 walkover win against North Korea. Outside of the host nations, Japan was the first nation to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
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