Daichi Kamada's late header gives Japan a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands in World Cup opener for both

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Daichi Kamada and his Japanese teammates were minutes away from a World Cup -opening loss that wouldn't have been unexpected considering the opponent.

His tying goal will be remembered for a long time in his homeland, especially if the country with some soccer momentum reaches the round of 16 again.

Kamada scored on a header off Koki Ogawa's corner kick in the 88th minute, sending the 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 group play, the orange-clad Oranje supporters were stunned by the late goal that left them at 21-2-11 in group play at the World Cup.

“Our players managed to be tenacious but at the same time be patient and just keep calm and finding and seizing 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 each post for the Netherlands early in the second half, while Keito Nakamura had a goal between those 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, the home of the Dallas Cowboys with the retractable roof that offered relief from the muggy Texas heat, and the giant video board that fans had a hard time keeping their eyes off.

Summerville gave the eighth-ranked Dutch the lead in the 64th minute, and Japan was running out of hope when Ogawa sent the corner that Kamada timed perfectly. The ball deflected slightly again on its way toward Bart Verbruggen, who got his hands on it with a sprawling dive but couldn't keep it from going in.

Van Dijk sent a header toward the far post on the right in the 50th minute, bending forward from inside the penalty area as he stared at the ball before 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 to the far left 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 at 35 and 151 against Uruguay in 2010. “It’s extra disappointing that we conceded from a set piece so late on.”

The Dutch’s most recent loss before the elimination round came the last time the World Cup was in the United States in 1994, when a group play 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 elimination round, in part because it's the only country to reach the final three times without winning the World Cup.

A draw to open Group F, which includes Sweden and Tunisia, won't ease that pressure on coach Ronald Koeman, who faced several pointed questions about strategy and shot back with cryptic replies.

The Dutch beat Japan in their only other 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 overexaggerated 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 goes to Monterrey, Mexico, to face Tunisia on Saturday.

This story has been corrected to show the Dutch extended their unbeaten streak to 17 games, not 16.

AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

Japan goalkeeper Zion Suzuki (1) eyes the ball during the World Cup Group F soccer match between the Netherlands and Japan in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Jessica Tobias)

Japan's Takehiro Tomiyasu (22), Kaishu Sano, left, and Netherlands' Memphis Depay go for a header during a World Cup Group F soccer match in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Netherlands' Crysencio Summerville (24) is congratulated by teammates after scoring a goal during the World Cup Group F soccer match between the Netherlands and Japan in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Jessica Tobias)

Japan celebrates a goal during the World Cup Group F soccer match between the Netherlands and Japan in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Jessica Tobias)

The image of Rod Brind’Amour screaming triumphantly while raising the Stanley Cup as the Carolina Hurricanes’ captain had been the franchise’s defining image for the past two decades.

Now there will be another: Brind'Amour raising the Cup again, this time as the Hurricanes’ coach who has made the sun-soaked Southern market his longtime home.

The Hurricanes won their second championship by beating the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 on Sunday night to close out a six-game Stanley Cup Final, adding a remarkable chapter to Brind'Amour's enduring presence with the franchise. In a region generally best known for rabid college sports rivalries, he is the embodiment of Hurricanes hockey.

He was the 35-year-old two-way center as the heart and soul of that 2006 title run, known for grinding on-ice work and weight-room training.

The owner of the retired No. 17 jersey in the Lenovo Center rafters.

The guy who proclaimed “I bleed Hurricane red” when becoming head coach of a franchise lost in a nine-year wilderness without a playoff bid.

Now he’s the coach who built a perennial contender that has finally reached its zenith. He joins Toe Blake with Montreal, Hap Day with Toronto and Cooney Weiland with Boston as the only other people in NHL history to both captain and coach the same organization to a Stanley Cup.

Doing it more than a quarter-century after arriving as a player shocked to be traded to Carolina makes it only sweeter.

“I don’t just wear this (Hurricanes) hat, take it off and wear someone else’s the next day," Brind'Amour said in May during his eighth playoff appearance in as many seasons. "That’s just not what it is. It means a little more to me because I’ve been here for so long. We have the roots and the history, so I’m very lucky in that way.”

Brind’Amour — born in the Canadian capital of Ottawa and raised in Campbell River, British Columbia — arrived in a January 2000 trade from Philadelphia. That jarring charge had an inauspicious start; he reached Raleigh amid a heavy snowstorm that had paralyzed the area.

Just two years later, Brind’Amour helped Carolina make an unexpected run to the Stanley Cup Final. Then, in the NHL’s 2005 return from a season-cancelling lockout, Brind'Amour became captain as the Hurricanes beat Edmonton in seven games for his unforgettable Cup-hoisting moment.

Brind’Amour was part of another East final run in 2009 before retiring in 2010. He held a front-office role before spending seven seasons as an assistant coach and then taking over the bench in 2018.

The challenge was daunting. There was the on-ice frustration from the long playoff drought. There was also flagging fan interest.

The Hurricanes had gone from averaging 16,573 fans for regular-season home games in the 2008-09 season to as low as 11,776 by the 2016-17 season. That stood at just 12,412 the year before Brind'Amour's promotion.

Brind'Amour quickly went about building a team capable of sustained success, one with an approach in befitting his personality. Use an aggressive forecheck to win puck battles. Maintain possession and generate scoring chances to keep the pressure on in the offensive zone.

The mantra was simple: keep working, it's the only way to give yourself a chance to win.

“It’s just the eight years we’ve been doing this Roddy,” captain Jordan Staal said before Game 6 against Vegas. “It’s the game we’ve built and it doesn’t ever change.”

Brind’Amour acknowledges the value of having been a player — “I have sat in their seat,” he said this month — in understanding the challenges they face and how to motivate them. He also talks about leading a team that fans can be proud of with its performance and effort.

And Brind'Amour continued a set-the-example leadership style, even in his own workout habits as he pushed into his 50s. It left an impression on offseason trade acquisition K'Andre Miller; the defenseman recalled coming in early to work out and finding Brind'Amour deep into bench squats.

“I'm like, ‘Who is this guy?’” Miller chuckled last month.

“It doesn’t hurt that your coach is in shape like that,” forward Taylor Hall said before the final. “That’s just the kind of guy he is. He’s a role model for us, and we kind of follow his lead.”

It's all added up to the Hurricanes making the playoffs every year of Brind'Amour's tenure. They reached the East final in 2019, 2023 and 2025 before pushing past Montreal this year.

Average regular-season home attendance is roughly 18,800 for the past two seasons combined. And in 2023, the team packed nearly 57,000 fans into Carter-Finley Stadium — home to N.C. State's football team across the street from the Lenovo Center — for a Stadium Series outdoor game.

Overall, Brind’Amour has been a player or coach for 102 of the franchise’s 104 playoff victories since the former Hartford Whalers relocated to North Carolina in 1997.

That now includes Brind’Amour having his name etched on the Stanley Cup for a second time.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Carolina Hurricanes right wing Jackson Blake (53) celebrates his goal with teammates during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final series against the Vegas Golden Knights, Sunday, June 14, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Carolina Hurricanes right wing Jackson Blake, second from right, celebrates his goal with teammates during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final series against the Vegas Golden Knights, Sunday, June 14, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour speaks to media following a loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 1 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final series in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown)