It's taken four games, but Takehiro Tomiyasu has finally started for Japan at the 2022 World Cup.
The Arsenal defender came into the tournament an injury doubt after limping out of the 1-0 Europa League win against FC Zurich at the beginning of November. And after making a substitute appearance for Japan in the shock 2-1 win over Germany, he missed the defeat by Costa Rica before returning against Spain.
But with Ko Itakura serving a suspension for the round of 16 clash with Croatia after picking up his second yellow card of the tournament in the win over Spain, Tomiyasu was handed a start as one of three centre-backs and football.london kept close tabs on the versatile defender.
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0-15
It was a shaky start for Tomiyasu as he didn't get enough power on an attempted backpass which was seized upon by Tottenham's Ivan Perisic, fortunately for the Arsenal defender he was bailed out by goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda and his teammates as they combined to clear the danger.
There was another moment for Tomiyasu to forget as from a throw-in he managed to throw the ball all the way down the line and out of play.
16-30
A piece of really good defending from Tomiyasu midway through the first half as he did well to cut off any passing lane for Bruno Petkovic. With Croatia getting on top during this period, the Japan players had to stand strong and, in fairness, they did just that without posing too much of a threat in attack.
31-45
After Daizen Maeda had given Japan the lead just before half-time, Tomiyasu took charge in the team huddle by giving a pep talk.
46-60
Perhaps partially at fault for Perisic's equaliser as the Croatia winger got in between him and Junya Ito, although the Arsenal defender can argue that he was taking care of Petkovic. A lack of game time was beginning to become evident at this point as he allowed the Spurs winger to get behind far too easily.
61-75
Looked to bring the ball out of defence a couple of times but his balls forward lacked any accuracy. It would appear Tomiyasu is going to play the full 90 minutes with Japan responding to losing too many aerial duels by bringing on Hiroki Sakai to operate as a right-wing back.
76-90
Very good defending from Tomiyasu as the game edged into the final quarter of an hour, a wonderful block to divert Perisic's effort for a corner. At the other end, he found himself in acres of space following a deep free-kick but opted to square the ball instead of having a pop at goal.
Extra-time
Was down momentarily following a clash of heads but was fine to continue. Made another great block in added-on time as the game went to penalties with Japan missing three of their four spot-kicks to crash out of the tournament at the round of 16 stage once again.
Verdict: It's safe to say Tomiyasu was a little rusty and he was rather fortunate that a couple of early mistakes went unpunished. This is expected given he's not started a game for club or country for well over a month, but the fact he came through 120 minutes unscathed is certainly a welcome fitness boost for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta.
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