Arlington, Texas. Daichi Kamada and his Japanese teammates were minutes away from a World Cup-opening loss that would not have been unexpected considering the opponent.

His tying goal will be remembered for a long time in his homeland, especially if Japan rides its growing soccer momentum to another round-of-16 appearance.

Kamada scored with a header off Koki Ogawa's corner kick in the 88th minute, sending Samurai Blue fans into a frenzy and giving Japan a 2-2 draw with the higher-ranked Netherlands on Sunday.

While the Dutch extended their unbeaten streak to 17 games in World Cup group play, the orange-clad Oranje supporters were stunned by the late goal that left the Netherlands with a 21-2-11 record in group-stage matches.

"Our players managed to be tenacious but at the same time be patient and just keep calm and find and seize an opportunity," Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu said through an interpreter. His team reached the round of 16 for the fourth time in 2022 in Qatar.

Virgil van Dijk and Crysencio Summerville scored off the posts for the Netherlands early in the second half, while Keito Nakamura scored in between as part of a three-goal burst over 14 minutes.

A mostly uneventful first half changed quickly after the break before a crowd evenly split at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys. The retractable roof offered relief from the muggy Texas heat, while the giant video board proved hard for fans to ignore.

Summerville gave the eighth-ranked Dutch the lead in the 64th minute, and Japan appeared to be running out of chances when Ogawa delivered the corner that Kamada timed perfectly. The ball deflected slightly on its way toward Bart Verbruggen, who got both hands on it with a sprawling dive but could not keep it out.

Van Dijk headed the ball toward the far post in the 50th minute, bending forward inside the penalty area as he watched it carom in for the Dutch captain's 13th international goal.

Nakamura answered seven minutes later for 18th-ranked Japan, turning and firing a shot past Verbruggen from the left side of the arc after taking a pass from Takefusa Kubo.

Another seven minutes later, Summerville took a pass from Ryan Gravenberch and curled a left-footed shot toward the far post past Zion Suzuki, where it caromed in again.

"It's disappointing now because obviously conceding the lead is never good," said Van Dijk, the second-oldest Dutch goal scorer in a World Cup at 34 years, 341 days, behind Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who was 35 years, 151 days old when he scored against Uruguay in 2010. "It's extra disappointing that we conceded from a set piece so late on."

The Netherlands' most recent loss before the knockout stage came the last time the World Cup was held in the United States in 1994, when a group-stage defeat was followed by a quarterfinal loss to Brazil at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

The pressure is always on the Netherlands to reach the knockout stage, in part because it is the only country to reach the World Cup final three times without winning the tournament.

A draw to open Group F, which also includes Sweden and Tunisia, will not ease pressure on coach Ronald Koeman, who faced several pointed questions about strategy and responded with cryptic replies.

The Dutch beat Japan in their only previous World Cup meeting in 2010.

"I'm disappointed that we didn't win, but that's because we were ahead twice," Koeman said through an interpreter. "Many people underestimated Japan, but for the 100,000th time, if you underestimate them, that's your problem. You think Japan's strength was exaggerated before the match? Let's wait until the end of the tournament to see who's right."

The Netherlands plays Sweden on Saturday in Houston, while Japan travels to Monterrey, Mexico, to face Tunisia the same day.

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