Ao Tanaka overcomes psychological hostility and disruption as Leeds United man impresses in latest Japan win — YEP 19/11/24
By Joe Donnohue
Leeds United journalist
Leeds United midfielder Ao Tanaka completed 90 minutes for
Japan on Tuesday as the Samurai Blue ran out 3-1 winners over China in FIFA
World Cup qualifying.
Japan moved onto 16 points from six matches as they edge
ever closer to booking their place at the 2026 World Cup in North America.
Playing their first fixture in China for nine years, Japan
received a hostile welcome as they faced China at the Xiamen Egret Stadium. The
Japanese national anthem was booed as Tanaka and his international teammates
lined up on the pitch, while laser pointers were also allegedly directed at
Japan players once the game had kicked off, per Football Zone.
Nevertheless, Japan went in two-nil up at the break and
added a third shortly after China had reduced the arrears three minutes into
the second half. The first half in Xiamen was not without incident, however, as
a pitch invader is reported to have caused a brief stoppage to the match.
Tanaka and co saw out the 3-1 scoreline, though, to make it
ten consecutive matches without defeat on the competitive international stage.
While the two countries share a strong economic partnership,
geopolitical relations have long been strained, dating back to the World Wars
of the 20th century, borne out of wartime activity as well as disputes over the
jurisdiction of land situated in the East China Sea. As a result, the two
countries' national football teams have become rivals with fixtures
occasionally played outside China in order to ease tensions.
For Tuesday's match, around 750 Japanese supporters were
allowed to attend the World Cup qualifier in Xiamen, according to Football
Zone.
Tanaka will now travel back to the United Kingdom from China
and join up with the rest of Daniel Farke's Leeds squad ahead of the team's
trip to Swansea City on Sunday.
Local journalist Joe Donnohue shared his statistics from the
game in a post on his personal X account, which included that the central
midfielder had 98 touches in 90 minutes, including 74 successful passes from 76
attempts for a 97% accuracy.
🇯🇵 Ao Tanaka vs China
— Joe Donnohue (@JoeDonnohue) November 19, 2024
▫ 98 touches
▫ 90 minutes played
▫ 74 of 76 passes completed
▫ 7 passes into final third
▫ 6 of 6 long passes completed
▫ 5 of 6 tackles won
▫ 5 ball recoveries
▫ 2 of 2 aerial duels won
▫ 2 fouls won
Maintaining that rhythm. #lufc pic.twitter.com/UMG4z1aWnU
Having been moved to a slightly deeper role under Farke to
make up for injuries and allow Joe Rothwell to push forward, Tanaka has been
excellent in possession and it has been admitted that the player has had to
adapt to the new tasks for his role.
His development showed in this performance too, with five of
six tackles, five ball recoveries and 100% of his aerial duels successful too.
His passing range has never been in question, as the 26-year-old also hit
six-out-of-six long passes and played seven passes into the final third.
The performance helped Japan to a 3-1 win and extended their
lead at the top of Group C to 11 points after just six games, with Australia
their closest rivals having won just one of their five games.
Tanaka will now return to Thorp Arch as Leeds prepare for a
big Championship clash against Swansea on Sunday afternoon, looking to build
momentum once more after their 2-0 win over QPR last time out left them two
points off the automatic promotion spots in the table behind Sunderland and
Sheffield United.