Dutch media blast Koeman’s defensive substitutions after Japan draws level at 2-2

The Netherlands opened its World Cup campaign with a dramatic 2-2 draw against Japan, the toughest team in a group that also includes Ecuador and Ivory Coast. Despite the late equalizer and the disappointment in Rotterdam, Dutch media noted one consolation: the Oranje have never lost their opening match at a World Cup.

Local coverage was sharply critical of coach Ronald Koeman. De Telegraaf wrote that Japan “deals a hard blow to the national team” and said that “because of Koeman’s defensive substitutions, the Netherlands completely gave up the initiative in the match, and pays a heavy price for that.” The paper added that Virgil van Dijk lost track of Kamada and Japan came back again. AD went further, saying the Netherlands “brought disaster on itself.”

Van Dijk scored the Netherlands’ first goal and, at 34 years and 341 days, became the second-oldest Dutch scorer in a World Cup match. Only Giovanni van Bronckhorst was older, at 35 years and 151 days, when he scored against Uruguay in the 2010 semifinal. The article also noted that Van Dijk had played more minutes than any other outfield player in Europe’s top five leagues, while continuing to carry a heavy workload in the United States.

Another striking statistic was that the Netherlands started a World Cup match without a player from its domestic league for the first time ever. Japan, meanwhile, started two players from the Dutch league, and a player from NEC Nijmegen provided the assist for the 2-2 equalizer.