The Netherlands thought they had it wrapped up. Leading 2-1 with six minutes left on the clock, the Dutch were cruising toward a comfortable start to their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign. Then Daichi Kamada happened.

Japan’s late equalizer in the 88th minute sealed a 2-2 draw at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on June 14, splitting the points in a Group F opener. The match also arrived just days after Kraken was named the Official Crypto Exchange Supporter of the tournament on June 9.

A game of momentum swings

Virgil van Dijk opened the scoring in the 51st minute, giving the Netherlands a lead that lasted all of six minutes. Keito Nakamura pulled Japan level in the 57th, and suddenly the match had a pulse that wouldn’t slow down.

Crysencio Summerville restored the Dutch advantage in the 64th minute. Then came the 88th minute. Kamada found space and buried his chance to make it 2-2, sending the Japanese supporters among the roughly 69,285 in attendance into a frenzy.

The two nations hadn’t met in a competitive fixture since the 2010 World Cup group stage, when the Netherlands scraped through with a 1-0 victory. Their most recent encounter of any kind was a 2-2 friendly in 2013.

Crypto’s World Cup moment

On June 9, Kraken was announced as the Official Crypto Exchange Supporter of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The 2026 World Cup is the first to feature 48 teams, with matches spread across the US, Canada, and Mexico.

The market noticed. Chiliz, the blockchain platform behind fan token infrastructure, saw its CHZ token rally 28% amid the wave of World Cup-related crypto enthusiasm. That rally happened despite the fact that none of the Group F teams — the Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, or Tunisia — have active fan tokens.

What this means for crypto investors

For traders watching Chiliz specifically, the 28% rally is worth contextualizing. CHZ has historically been correlated with major football events, spiking around the 2022 World Cup in Qatar before giving back most of those gains.

The absence of fan tokens for any Group F team cuts both ways. On one hand, it represents untapped potential. On the other hand, the fact that they haven’t launched suggests that national football federations remain cautious about tokenization.

Investors should also keep an eye on whether Kraken’s sponsorship triggers competing deals from other exchanges. Coinbase, Binance, and OKX have all pursued sports partnerships in different markets.