Netherlands boss Louis van Gaal has berated his team's defensive performance after the Dutch surrendered a two-goal advantage in the 2-2 with Japan.

Rafael van der Vaart and Arjen Robben fired the Oranje into a 2-0 lead, before their Asian counterparts ultimately salvaged a draw from the friendly through Yuya Osako and Keisuke Honda.

As result, the former Bayern Munich coach was less than impressed by what he witnessed from his rearguard in Genk, Belgium this afternoon.

"We let Japan back into the game, and that was completely unnecessary," he told reporters after the game.

"If you end the first half at 2-0, you know you can play the same game after the break. During the second half we were not the better team. We lost every second ball.

"The team defended poorly. Therefore the centre-back pairing made mistakes. This makes sense. The decline was much too big. This should never happen to us."

The Netherlands face Colombia in another friendly on Tuesday.