Daichi Kamada and Japan looked destined to open their World Cup campaign with a defeat, a result few would have questioned against a formidable Dutch side.
Instead, Kamada delivered a moment that could become part of Japanese football folklore, especially if the Samurai Blue ride this result into another run to the round of 16.
The midfielder struck in the 88th minute when Koki Ogawa's header glanced off him and into the net, sparking wild celebrations among Japan supporters and securing a dramatic 2-2 draw against the higher-ranked Netherlands on Sunday.
The result stretched the Dutch unbeaten run in World Cup group-stage matches to 17 games, but it felt little like a victory. Oranje fans were left stunned by Japan's late equalizer as the Netherlands' group-stage record moved to 21 wins, two losses and 11 draws.
"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 opposite posts for the Netherlands early in the second half, while Keito Nakamura scored between those goals as part of a three-goal flurry in just 14 minutes.
A mostly uneventful first half changed quickly after the break for 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 difficult for fans to ignore.
Summerville gave the eighth-ranked Dutch the lead in the 64th minute, and Japan was running out of hope until Ogawa's perfectly timed header off a corner kick. The ball glanced off Kamada's head and past goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, who got his hands on it with a sprawling dive but couldn't keep it out.
Van Dijk sent a header toward the far post in the 50th minute, bending forward from inside the penalty area and keeping his eyes fixed on the ball as it caromed in for the Dutch captain's 13th international goal.
Nakamura answered seven minutes later for 18th-ranked Japan, turning and rifling 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 sent a left-footed shot toward the far post beyond Zion Suzuki, where it caromed in.
"It's disappointing now because obviously conceding the lead is never good," said Van Dijk, who at 34 years, 341 days became the second-oldest Dutch player to score at a World Cup, 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 Dutch most recently lost a World Cup match before the knockout stage when the tournament was last held in the United States in 1994. That 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 have reached three World Cup finals without winning the tournament.
A draw to open Group F, which also includes Sweden and Tunisia, won't ease that pressure on coach Ronald Koeman, who faced several pointed questions about strategy and responded with cryptic answers.
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 play Sweden on Saturday in Houston, while Japan travel to Monterrey, Mexico, to face Tunisia the same day.