Leeds United ace plays big role in pre-World Cup success but Whites man injury update as pair miss out
Leeds United have a host of players away on international duty and four heading to the World Cup.
A Leeds United star has played a big role in helping his country to a pre-World Cup success but with an injured Whites teammate and another midfielder missing out.
Leeds have four players heading to this summer’s World Cup and three of those players’ nations were in international action on Sunday, starting with a Japan squad featuring Whites midfielder Ao Tanaka.
In a big pre-World Cup boost, Tanaka was handed a start for Sunday’s friendly against Iceland and played 78 minutes as his team recorded a 1-0 success.
Noah Okafor, though, selected to be part of the Switzerland squad for the World Cup, missed out due to his calf injury as his team beat Jordan 4-1 in a Sunday afternoon friendly at St Gallen’s Kybunpark.
Switzerland had revealed on Saturday evening that Okafor was still struggling with a calf injury but that boss Murat Yakin was not worried about his long-term availability.
Also heading for the World Cup, a USA squad that Brenden Aaronson is part of then took on Senegal on Sunday evening in a friendly ay the Bank Of America Stadium.
Fresh from getting married on Friday, Aaronson returned to the camp on Saturday and was named on the bench for Sunday’s friendly but was an unused substitute as his side recorded a 3-2 success.
Whites left back Gabi Gudmundsson completes the quartet of Leeds players heading to the World Cup with Sweden who face hosts Norway in a friendly on Monday evening in a 6pm kick-off.