In the first round of the FIFA World Cup group stage, the Netherlands drew 2-2 with Japan. After the match, Dutch captain Van Dijk, who scored a goal and was named man of the match, told NOS that he regretted the team twice taking the lead only to be twice equalized, particularly believing that Japan's first goal could have been avoided.
Van Dijk stated: "You know, set pieces and counterattacks always pose a threat. It's a shame that we conceded in the end. What bothers me most is that this goal came from a set piece, because before that, I thought our defense was doing well."
Van Dijk was referring to Japan's second goal. At that time, Japan created a threat from a corner kick, and after Koki Ogawa's header, the ball deflected off Daichi Kamada into the net, with the goal ultimately credited to Daichi Kamada.
However, compared to the second conceded goal, Van Dijk believed that Japan's first equalizer was more worthy of review. That goal occurred six minutes after he opened the scoring for the Netherlands, when Keito Nakamura found relatively easy space to shoot and scored with his dominant foot.
Regarding this, Van Dijk frankly said: "In my opinion, this goal could have been avoided. He is clearly a right-footed player, so we had to force him wide and not let him shoot so easily.
We were facing a very compact Japanese team, and this match was indeed difficult to play. Ultimately, we started our FIFA World Cup journey with a draw. We need to move the ball to the other side faster, and sometimes also bypass a passing option directly. This is not always easy to do, but we can certainly do better. Now we need to continue preparing for the next match."