Ao Tanaka is looking forward to facing his Leeds United teammate Gabriel Gudmundsson when Japan meet Sweden in their Group F finale in Texas. The Japan midfielder said the matchup will be different from the 4-0 win over Tunisia, but the points on offer carry the real weight.
“I am looking forward to playing against my teammate,” Tanaka said after Japan beat Tunisia. He added: “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.”
Tanaka and Japan’s 4-0 win
Japan’s 4-0 victory over Tunisia gave Tanaka another clean night to build from after the draw with the Netherlands in the FIFA World Cup opener. He helped dominate the midfield, and the result lifted Japan to second in Group F with four points.
The 27-year-old said the Tunisia match was a “massive result” for Japan, and he also described the World Cup stage as the place every Japanese player wants to reach. “My dream came true,” he said, reflecting on playing at the tournament again after appearing three times for Japan at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Gabriel Gudmundsson in Texas
Gudmundsson brings the Leeds United angle into a match that is otherwise straight tournament business for Japan. The meeting in Texas is the final Group F match for both sides, and Japan’s position means the result will shape whether it leaves the group in front.
For viewers in the UK, the match is scheduled for the early hours of Friday morning and will be live on Two. Japan has already shown it can follow a difficult opener with a strong response, and the Sweden match now asks for the same discipline in a game where Tanaka is measuring himself against a club teammate on the World Cup stage.
Ao Tanaka’s World Cup angle adds another layer to a match that already carries Group F stakes. Japan has four points and Sweden is next, so the immediate task is simple: handle the group’s hardest test and turn the Tunisia result into the one that counts most.
Japan, Sweden and Group F
Japan’s path is clear enough. The team drew with the Netherlands, beat Tunisia, and now meets Sweden in Texas with progression still on the line. Tanaka’s words fit that sequence: he welcomes the duel with Gudmundsson, but he also knows the group leaves little room for comfort.
That leaves one live question for the night in Texas: whether Japan can finish Group F on top after putting four points on the board. Tanaka has already said the dream is real; the Sweden match will decide how much farther it can go.
