All times local (UTC+2) Netherlands vs Denmark Japan vs Cameroon On the 39th minute, from a surprising
Daisuke Matsui cross from the right wing,
Keisuke Honda chipped in and delivered home to give Japan the lead, a lead which Japan would successfully defend for the remainder of the match. The win for Japan was their first World Cup win away from home soil, and it was also the first time Cameroon was defeated in a World Cup opening match. This defeat was a huge shock at the time, due to Japan's poor friendly results and their relatively unknown squad versus to that of Cameroon.
Netherlands vs Japan The first clear chance of the game came from midfielder
Wesley Sneijder when he shot over the bar from a long-range free-kick. When Japan broke up the Netherlands' passing, midfielder
Daisuke Matsui was positive, helping a move that set
Yuto Nagatomo up for a shot that he hit wide. The Netherlands became frustrated, as they struggled to incorporate forward
Robin van Persie. Towards the end of the first half, Japan had two chances: defender
Marcus Tulio Tanaka heading wide and Matsui with a powerful shot at the goalkeeper. Throughout the second half, Van Persie managed to break free twice. In the 52 minute, as the ball came into the penalty area, the Dutch number 9 moved the ball towards Sneijder, who shot the ball powerfully towards the goal, scoring via a deflection from the goalkeeper,
Eiji Kawashima. Substitute
Shunsuke Nakamura later managed to make a cross into the six-yard box, which was cleared by Van Persie. Dutch substitute
Eljero Elia, managed to set up
Ibrahim Afellay with a one-on-one with goalkeeper Kawashima, but Kawashima prevented him from scoring a goal. One minute before the end of the game,
Shinji Okazaki missed a shot from ; shooting over the bar. Soon after this,
Yuto Nagatomo went down in the penalty area claiming a penalty, from a challenge by Dutch
Nigel de Jong, but the referee turned down his appeals. Honda, standing to Danish keeper
Thomas Sørensen's left, kicked the ball with great force; Sørensen initially moved to his left, and as the ball sailed past the wall, he shifted direction, but could not recover in time to make the save. Japan's second goal came thirteen minutes later, also from a direct free kick, this time by
Yasuhito Endō. Standing outside the penalty area directly in front of the Danish goal, he curled the ball around the wall. Sørensen had been standing on the right side of his goal and could not move to his left fast enough. Endō almost scored from yet another free kick early in the second half. This time, Sørensen appeared to have difficulty judging the path of the ball, and was only able to palm it away at the last second, where it caromed off the goalpost. Denmark needed to win this game in order to advance and increased their attacks accordingly. Late in the second half,
Christian Eriksen put his shot over the goal and
Søren Larsen hit the goalpost. They were finally able to score in the 82nd minute. When
Makoto Hasebe was adjudged to have fouled
Daniel Agger inside the penalty area, Denmark were awarded a penalty kick.
Jon Dahl Tomasson took the shot, which was saved by
Eiji Kawashima; the goalkeeper, however, was unable to control the rebound, which fell to Tomasson, and he was able to put it in the goal. Japan scored their final goal in the 87th minute. Honda dribbled into the penalty area, forcing Sørensen to attempt to block a potential shot, but Honda passed it to substitute
Shinji Okazaki, who merely had to put the ball into an empty net. The victory was Japan's second World Cup tournament victory on foreign soil, and only their second against a European team. Japan finished group play in second place with six points, and advanced to the knockout round for the second time in their history, and the first time on foreign soil. Denmark ended in third with three points. This was the first time Denmark failed to get past the group stage in the World Cup.
Cameroon vs Netherlands and
Cameroon teams line up prior to the game. ==See also==