This Sunday, June 14, the football world will turn its gaze to AT&T Stadium in Texas. This is where the Group F match of the first round of the 2026 World Cup will take place, featuring the national teams of the Netherlands and Japan. This confrontation will be the key event of the matchday, uniting two strong teams with ambitious goals.
Netherlands: A Dynasty Without Defeats
For the Netherlands national team, the upcoming tournament is a continuation of the successful era under the leadership of Ronald Koeman. Four years ago, the "Oranje" reached the dramatic quarterfinals against Argentina. Since then, the coach has achieved impressive results: leading the team to the semi-finals of Euro 2024 and convincingly winning the qualifying group, overtaking Poland and Finland.
However, the recent friendly matches before the World Cup have caused skepticism among fans. Despite a powerful streak of 12 official matches without a defeat in regular time, the control games of spring and summer frankly did not impress. Nevertheless, the Dutch rely on solid historical statistics: they have not lost their opening matches at World Cups since 1938, and in the group stages of the World Cup, they have maintained a winless streak since 1994 (12 wins and 4 draws).
Japan: The "Blue Samurai" on the Rise
The Japan national team, known as the "Blue Samurai," is one of the most consistent participants in the World Cups since the end of the last century. Hajime Moriyasu's charges qualified for this tournament among the first in the world, simply sweeping away opponents in the qualifiers — 54 goals in 16 matches.
In 2026, the Japanese are showing an ideal result in friendly games, winning all three spring sparring matches with the same score of 1:0 (in Scotland, England, and Iceland). At the end of May, the team completely closed off from public matches and dedicated time exclusively to training without extra control games. Japan has consistently advanced from the group in the last two World Cups, creating loud sensations against Germany and Spain, and now plans to go beyond the first round of the knockout stage for the first time in history.
Where to Watch the Match in Ukraine
The live broadcast of the match in Ukraine will be available on the Megogo media service with MEGOPACK and "Sport" subscriptions, as well as in MEGOPACK N+S and MEGOPACK Y. The broadcast will begin with a pre-match studio at 22:20. Host Vitaliy Kravchenko will be joined by Eduard Tikhmeystruk and Dmytro Shpyrko. The start of the match itself is at 23:00 Kyiv time. Vadim Shevyakin and Alexander Melnychenko will commentate on the confrontation.
Aside from the confrontation between the "Oranje" and the "Blue Samurai," on the first matchday in groups E and F, fans will be able to watch three other interesting matches. Due to the time zone difference, some matches will take place late at night on June 15 Kyiv time.