Football: Netherlands to play Japan in Belgium

The Hague: The Netherlands and Japan will play a friendly Nov 16 in the Belgian city of Genk, the Dutch football association KNVB announced Tuesday.

The match will be played in Belgium because the Japanese stay there for a training camp during that period. Both teams have qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Japan was the first team to qualify in June while the Netherlands was the first European team to claim a World Cup berth in September. Japan and the Netherlands have played each other twice before. The first meeting was a friendly Sep 5, 2009 in Enschede when "Oranje" won 3-0, thanks to goals by Robin van Persie, Wesley Sneijder and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the Dutch beat Japan 1-0 in the group phase. Sneijder was the matchwinner in Durban. IANS