The Samurai Blue are done being dark horses

Japan’s Daichi Kamada heads home the late equaliser as the Samurai Blue once again refused to accept defeat, underlining their growing status as genuine World Cup contenders. (AFP pic)

PETALING JAYA: For years, Japan occupied a familiar place in World Cup conversations: dangerous, organised and technically gifted.

The team nobody wanted to face but few genuinely feared.

That distinction may finally be disappearing.

Their 2-2 draw with the Netherlands in Dallas was entertaining enough on its own. Yet the most revealing aspect of the evening was not the scoreline. It was the mindset.

Twice Japan fell behind.

Twice they refused to behave like a team grateful simply to be sharing the stage.

That is the difference.

Previous generations of Japanese football earned admiration through discipline and technical quality. This version carries something else. Expectation.

Coach Hajime Moriyasu has spent almost eight years constructing a side that no longer measures success by honourable defeats.

The language coming from the camp reflects that shift. The target is not respectability.

It is the trophy itself.

A decade ago such talk might have invited raised eyebrows. Today it sounds entirely reasonable.

After all, this is the same Japan that beat Germany and Spain at the 2022 World Cup. The same Japan that recorded recent landmark victories over Brazil and England, including that statement win at Wembley.

Those results were not isolated lightning strikes. They were milestones on a carefully plotted journey.

Against the Netherlands, Moriyasu again revealed how far his tactical thinking has evolved.

Japan lined up in the familiar back-three system but with an attacking edge that would have seemed risky in previous tournaments.

Midfielders occupied wing-back roles. The pressing started high up the pitch. The intention was clear.

Japan were not there to survive. They were there to dictate.

Even when Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk headed the Dutch ahead from a Ryan Gravenberch delivery, panic never entered the equation. Japan responded within minutes through Keito Nakamura.

When West Ham’s Crysencio Summerville restored the Dutch advantage with a sharp finish, the script appeared to favour Ronald Koeman’s side.

Crysencio Summerville celebrates after restoring the Netherlands’ lead, only for Japan’s relentless pressure to deny the Dutch victory in Dallas. (AFP pic)

Instead, Japan kept pushing.

The late equaliser from Crystal Palace midfielder Daichi Kamada felt less like a rescue act and more like the inevitable reward for persistence.

That resilience has become one of the defining features of Moriyasu’s reign.

Former Japan coach Akira Nishino perhaps captured it best when he described the squad as a collection of “Japanised individuals” whose strength emerges through collective purpose rather than individual ego.

The phrase sounds simple. The implications are profound.

Japan possess talents such as Takefusa Kubo, Ritsu Doan, Junya Ito and Nakamura. Yet the team remains bigger than any individual.

That unity explains why they continue to unsettle football’s traditional powers.

It also explains why Asian fans identify so strongly with them.

Japan have become proof that football’s old hierarchy is not carved in stone.

Across Asia, supporters have watched European and South American nations dominate the sport for generations.

Japan are showing another route: investment, elite coaching, patience and identity.

No shortcuts. No miracles. Just relentless progress.

The Netherlands, meanwhile, leave Dallas with more questions than answers.

This remains one of football’s great unfinished stories. Three World Cup final defeats. Endless admiration. No trophy.

Koeman’s side still possess quality, particularly through their Premier League contingent. Van Dijk looked commanding for long spells. Gravenberch supplied quality from midfield. Summerville provided the game’s sharpest attacking moment.

Yet there was an unease whenever Japan accelerated the tempo.

Even after taking the lead twice, the Dutch never looked entirely comfortable.

That should concern them.

Group F already appears one of the tournament’s trickier neighbourhoods. After this result, it feels even more volatile.

The draw may ultimately prove more valuable to Japan than to the Netherlands.

Not because of the point itself, but because it reinforced a growing belief.

Japan are often labelled this tournament’s dark horses. The description is becoming outdated.

Dark horses usually operate in the shadows.

Japan have spent the last four years standing in broad daylight, announcing exactly what they intend to become.

The rest of the football world is finally starting to listen.

And Dallas provided another reminder that this tournament is already developing a taste for unpredictability.

For those who prefer their World Cups orderly and predictable, England arrive next.

Good luck with that.

Germany’s warning shot carries a caveat

Germany’s 7-1 demolition of Curaçao looked brutal on the scoreboard and ominous for the rest of the tournament.

Yet Julian Nagelsmann will know the result requires context.

For 21 minutes in Houston, the World Cup debutants dared to dream.

When Livano Comenencia scored Curaçao’s first World Cup goal, an island of barely 155,000 people briefly shared equal billing with one of football’s superpowers.

Livano Comenencia scored Curaçao’s historic first World Cup goal, a moment that briefly stunned four-time champions Germany. (EPA Images pic)

Reality soon returned.

Felix Nmecha, increasingly influential in Germany’s midfield, impressed again. Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz operated with their usual elegance.

Kai Havertz delivered a striker’s performance with two goals while Joshua Kimmich quietly controlled proceedings.

Kai Havertz chips home Germany’s seventh goal to complete a ruthless display as Julian Nagelsmann’s side announced themselves in emphatic fashion. (EPA Images pic)

The Premier League connection will particularly interest many Malaysian fans.

Former Chelsea forward Havertz looked rejuvenated. Ex-Brighton striker Deniz Undav transformed the game from the bench with a goal and two assists.

Germany’s attack moved with a fluency absent during their disappointing campaigns in 2018 and 2022.

Yet Nagelsmann will not ignore the blemishes.

Germany have now gone seven World Cup matches without a clean sheet. Against stronger opposition, some of the defensive lapses witnessed here could prove costly.

Still, the broader trend is encouraging.

Germany have now won 10 straight matches and appear to have rediscovered both confidence and identity.

For a nation that has spent a decade searching for another World Cup-winning formula, that may be the most significant statistic of all.