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Ange Postecoglou has had his say on Japan's first 45 minutes of World Cup 2026 – and he's been very honest about the Samurai Blue.
Postecoglou coached in Japan and had great success in the J-League, bringing in a number of players when he moved to Scottish football.
Now, he's had his say on the first half against the Netherlands.
Ange Postecoglou: Japan are disciplined enough to wait for the Netherlands
“They're very risk-averse: they won't take the game to the opposition – even though they have the quality to do so,” the former Tottenham Hotspur manager said. “But if the Dutch do have a lapse of concentration, they'll punish them.
“They're disciplined enough to wait it out – and when the Dutch make a mistake, they will pounce.”
”I thought we'd see something more like the United States or Morocco,” Ally McCoist said on commentary about the Japanese. “[Those teams] played with a pace and an aggression. We've certainly not seen it so far in this first half [from Japan]. And that's surprised me.”
The two favourites for this group lined up against one another missing big names in attack – Kaoru Mitoma out of the tounament for Japan through injury, and Memphis Depay on the bench for the Japanese.
Netherlands settled into a rhythm early on, taking hold of possession before Donyell Malen had the first chance after just two minutes.
The former Aston Villa man – who scored seven in his last seven games of the domestic season for Roma – received the ball on the edge of the box and wrestled himself free from his marker to force Zion Suzuki into an emphatic save.
Japan got into the game before the hydration break with both sides having chances just after: Keito Nakamura found a moment of space in the box but couldn’t get a shot off quickly enough, before Cody Gakpo whipped in a cople of bals, with Denzel Dumfries heading one of them onto the roof of the net, after getting into Japan’s box for the first time.
Perhaps the best Dutch chance of the game came around 33 minutes, when Malen heading a corner straight at Suzuki as the Dutch grew into the game – before Japan had two of their own.
Nakamura snatched at the ball just before half-time, sending the ball just wide of the near post, before Feyenoord star Ayase Ueda struck the ball into the side netting after getting the right side of Virgil van Dijk.
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