Midori Tanaka, who scored the winning goal against Spain in the World Cup Qatar tournament as a member of the Japan national soccer team, said in an interview with NHK, "As the center of the team, I want Japan to win the World Cup four years from now. I have to become a player who can do it," he said enthusiastically.
The 24-year-old Tanaka started as a defensive midfielder in both the first round match against Germany and the third match against Spain at the World Cup Qatar tournament, and scored the winning goal against Spain.
The team won against the powerhouses Germany and Spain, who have won the championship, and helped them advance to the knockout stages.
Tanaka, who has returned to Japan after the tournament, said in an interview with NHK on the 19th about her first appearance in the World Cup, "When I win or when I score a goal, it's a different world than the matches I've experienced so far. I was so happy to be here, and I wondered how my emotions would be shaken so much.I felt that the World Cup was a place where I could share my joys and sorrows with the Japanese people."
Regarding the winning goal against Spain, he said, "I have always told myself that I will score a goal at the World Cup. I was able to run in there because I was conscious of getting in front of the goal. It was definitely a beautiful goal. It may not be a cool goal, but it was a goal that was full of my goodness."
He added, "There are not many times in my life that I've experienced such frustration. That's why, four years from now, I want to grasp with my own hands what I couldn't achieve this time. As the center of the team, I won Japan. I have to become a player who can let the players down.”
The World's Strongest Competition Ever
The FIFA World Cup Qatar, which ended on the 18th of this month, was a competition of unprecedented strength, with teams from regions such as Asia beating teams from Europe and South America, known as traditional powerhouses. rice field.
In this World Cup, Japan's come-from-behind victory against the teams that had won the first-round league titles, Germany and Spain, attracted much attention.
Also in the first round, Asian teams often upset European and South American powerhouses, such as Saudi Arabia coming from behind to win against Argentina, who had won the championship, and South Korea also beating Portugal. .
In this tournament, a record three teams from Asia, Japan, South Korea, and Australia, advanced to the finals, and a FIFA official pointed out that ``the gap between Asian teams and the traditional powerhouses has definitely narrowed''. Did.
Morocco also became the first African team to reach the last four.
Assuming that they would have the ball for a long time in order to face a strong team, their tactics of tenaciously strengthening their defense and counterattacking to capture the few chances they had were successful. It is seen as
Furthermore, in this tournament, not a single team won three straight games in the primary league, and teams from all regions advanced to the final tournament for the first time. rice field.