The international break comes at a good time for Leeds United. The injuries at the club were piling up after Daniel Farke had a healthy squad at the start of the campaign.
Lucas Perri, Wilfried Gnonto and Dan James get the chance to recover from their knocks while 11 other players have been called up for their countries. On Thursday night, Leeds trio Karl Darlow, Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu were on the end of a 3-0 hammering by England. All three players were powerless to stop the Three Lions. Ampadu was singled out for his performance by the BBC.
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Japanese media assess Leeds United man’s display vs Paraguay
Ao Tanaka Credit: Imago
Ao Tanaka was also in action as Japan played a 2-2 draw with Paraguay. The Leeds midfielder started the game, but was taken off after 78 minutes. Japanese media gave him a fair rating for his performance. Football Channel Japan gave him a 6.5/10 rating for his display, adding:
“Power up in England, obviously, became stronger in the competition at the ball.”
The midfielder also picked up a yellow card late in the second half.
Ao Tanaka wants to fight for place in the team
After being in the lineup early in the season, the Japanese international seems to have been displaced by Sean Longstaff. During the international break, Tanaka spoke to GOAL about his plans to make it back into the starting lineup.
“Of course, the most important thing is that I’m disappointed that I’m not playing,”
“But that’s the way the Premier League is,” Tanaka continued. “And I feel that not only on my team, but on every team, even the players on the bench or not playing have overwhelming quality.
“There are still seven games (gone), and I still have a lot of issues to work on, but I also feel like I can do it. I’ll just do it when I’m on the field.”
Japan face Brazil in four days time, with Ao Tanaka expected to star in that game also. Leeds are in action a few days after that as they face fellow newly promoted side Burnley.
