This international break has come at the right time for multiple Leeds United players to feature after a lack of playing time of late. Included is Japan’s Ao Tanaka.
The Whites have two weeks between that stalemate at home to Brentford, and the trip to West Ham in the FA Cup after the international break.
It’s a busy set of international fixtures, though. For many, there’s preparations taking place for the looming World Cup in June, which includes Japan and Ao Tanaka taking on Scotland and England.
Leeds United midfielder Ao Tanaka “so excited” to play for Japan this month
It’s only a pair of friendlies for Japan over the next week, but it’s an important international break in order for Tanaka and his teammates to acclimatise against opposition they don’t normally face.
Of course, Japan are in Group F of the World Cup after spotless qualifying. Included in their group are the Netherlands and one other undecided European nation – one of Ukraine, Sweden, Poland, or Albania.
Tanaka is looking forward to this latest international duty, where he outlines his excitement at taking on Scotland and then England at Wembley.
“It is always good for me to play for the national team and I am so happy every time I play,” Tanaka told LUFC. “The last time we played was November, and soon we have the World Cup so this is an important month!
“I am so excited because we do not normally play against a European country because they have qualifiers, so it is a good thing for us. Before the World Cup, we want to play against a good country so yeah, it is good to have these hard games coming up.
“It is my first time playing at Wembley, the last time we played England I watched on TV, so it will be good!”
Opportunity for Ao Tanaka to prove his worth to Daniel Farke and Leeds United
It was actually a pleasant surprise to see Tanaka come off the bench for the final 22 minutes against Brentford last time out.
The reason it’s a surprise is that I don’t think many would have expected Tanaka to actually be introduced. He’s one of a handful in the past 12 months who have fallen badly out of favour under the German’s watch. I worry he’s falling into the same category as Largie Ramazani, and even Willy Gnonto.
In December, the £2.95million bargain was integral to memorable nights against Chelsea and Liverpool, scoring in both. Then, a terrible performance at Brentford has seemingly tanked the midfielder’s hopes of regular starts.
22 minutes against Brentford was Tanaka’s first exposure in a Premier League game since our draw against Everton back in January. In between, he was an unused sub in seven games.
I hoped the FA Cup clash at Norwich City would be his kickstarter. But, a positive performance didn’t really change his position in the pecking order. He’s currently behind Ethan Ampadu, Anton Stach, Ilia Gruev, Brenden Aaronson and Sean Longstaff.
This international duty should be a good window for Tanaka to prove himself. Against strong opposition, he may show that he should be used more often by Farke.
I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking someone who was part of the side that bossed Chelsea’s midfield in December could be more useful than warming our bench right now.
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