The opening fixture of Group F saw the two heavyweights, Japan and the Netherlands, draw 2-2 in a game of second-half attacking brilliance.

Donyell Malen almost took the lead for the Oranje inside three minutes after he was found in the box by Cody Gakpo. The Roma striker turned and rifled the ball towards goal but was denied by a sublime save by Zion Suzuki. 

Despite the Netherlands dominating the ball, the rest of the first half proceeded to be a cagey affair with neither side taking any risks. Set-pieces by Tijani Reijnders seemed to be the most likely place a goal would come from. 

In the final moments of the first-half, Japan sprung into life with their best two opportunites. Crysensio Summerville misjudged a cross from the right and the ball fell to wing-back Keito Nakamura who drilled the ball into side-netting. 

A minute later, Ayase Ueda pulled away from Virgil van Dijk and Micky van de Ven and found himself almost one-on-one, but again his shot found the side net. 

Despite a poor display in the first half, the game livened up immensely in the second-half. 

In the 51st minute, van Dijk broke the deadlock and took the lead for the Netherlands. After a poor set-piece by Reijnders, which was cleared as far as Frenkie de Jong on the edge of the box, he played it wide to Ryan Gravenberch. The Liverpool midfielder whipped the ball into an unmarked van Dijk to punish Japan. 

Their lead lasted only six minutes. Japan's talismanic Takefusa Kubo, with some intelligent play inside the box, laid the ball up on the edge of the box for Nakamura to smash past Bart Verbruggen, no thanks to a deflection off  Jan Paul van Hecke. 

However, the dominant Dutch side retook the lead in the 64th minute in spectacular fashion. Gravenberch drove with the ball and pulled off a sensational skill to put two Japanese players on the floor before giving the ball to Summerville in space. The winger cut inside and bent the ball past Suzuki to make it 2-1. 

After this goal many would have expected the Dutch to cruise to victory. However, manager Hajime Moriyasu went for it with multiple attacking substitutes.  With two minutes remaining of normal time, substitute Koki Ogawa's header deflected off of Daichi Kamada and rifled into the roof of the net to equalise for Japan. 

For the majority of this game, the Netherlands were by far the dominant side, and this was mainly due to their midfield, who were impressive. 

Gravenberch and de Jong dictated the entire tempo of the game and often prevented Japan from ever taking control of the game, and suffocated Japan in their own half.

However, it could be argued that it was the defensive substitutions by Ronald Koeman to bring an extra centre-back on to shift to a back five and hold on for the result. 

While making a move like this when under pressure is understandable, the Netherlands were under very little pressure until this moment, and Japan made multiple offensive moves, which, in the end, was what created unnecessary pressure.

After the second goal, Japan had far more possession, which was against the run of play and in the end it was because of this that they were able to get the corner and eventually equalise. With one extra defender on the pitch, the Netherlands were unable to offer any counter-attacking resistance. 

The first half display by Japan, by all accounts, was poor, as they offered very little going forward. They seemed to be quite timid, and it was not until the final few minutes of the half that they woke up. 

It took Moriyasu's side going down a goal for them to become the side we expected them to be. An aggressive, fluid, intelligent and direct side that takes the game to the opposition. 

When they were under pressure to get a goal, they seemed to rise to it and have that belief. In their upcoming games, if they start the way they played when a goal behind, they could be lethal against their opposition. 

One issue they will need to work on is defending set-pieces, which seemed to be troubling throughout the fixture. 

These two teams are by far the biggest favourites to progress, and they should each take some major positives from this fixture.

However, not only will dropping points put them under pressure, but they have also left the door wide open for one of Sweden or Tunisia to sneak in. 

Both Japan and the Netherlands will now likely need to win both of their remaining fixtures to progress, should one of the two sides left to play win. 

For the Oranje, they take on Sweden next, who could offer a counter-attacking threat, and for the Samurai Blue, they take on Tunisia, whom they will be expecting to beat.