Leeds United man's World Cup dream comes true but enjoyment not on agenda for club-mate clash

Leeds have a quartet of players representing them on the world stage during this summer's major tournament. Neither Brenden Aaronson nor Noah Okafor have tasted any World Cup action as yet. Aaronson has remained on the bench for both US Men's National Team victories over Paraguay and Australia, while Okafor was an unused substitute for Switzerland's frustrating 1-1 draw with Qatar and a 4-1 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

But Ao Tanaka, who sat out the opener against Netherlands, got his tournament under way with a start and a fine performance in Japan's 4-0 victory over Tunisia. He was involved in the build-up to goals and came close to one of his own during the rout, lasting the full 90 minutes to earn his 39th senior international cap.

“It was big game for us because we haven’t won a lot of second games of group stages,” he said, speaking to his club this week. “It was a massive result for our country.”

For Tanaka this is his second opportunity to play for the Samurai Blue at a World Cup. He featured in three of their four games in Qatar four years ago, scoring in a famous 2-1 win over Spain that saw Japan top a group that also contained Germany. He was an extra-time substitute in the last-16 penalty shoot-out defeat by Croatia.

Moving to European football, first with Fortuna Dusseldorf and then with Leeds United, was part of Tanaka's plan to ensure he got to star at World Cups and starting against Tunisia was a special moment.

“My dream came true," he said. “Every Japanese player wants to play at the World Cup. That is why everyone comes to Europe to play football. We believe in ourselves and we fight all together, whoever plays.”

There will be plenty of Leeds interest in the final game of Japan's Group F campaign because it pits Tanaka against his Elland Road team-mate Gabriel Gudmundsson of Sweden. Gudmundsson is a mainstay of the Sweden side and has featured in 19 of their last 21 international fixtures. He recovered from a hamstring problem and subsequent illness to play 65 minutes of their 5-1 beating of Tunisia and played the full 90 as they were hammered by the same scoreline in the next game against Netherlands. The left-back is playing in his first major tournament and as it stands there's a good chance of it continuing. Sweden will finish second at worst should they win and a draw could be enough to send them through as one of the best third-placed teams. Japan can top the group with a win, however, if they better Netherlands' result against Tunisia. The stakes will be high for both sides, so much so that Tanaka doubts they can take too much enjoyment from meeting as club-mates on the world stage.

“I am looking forward to playing against my teammate,” he said. “But I am not sure we can enjoy the moment. Our group stage is the toughest group so we will put everything for this game.”