‘My performance was a disaster’ – Tomiyasu says after Japan’s loss to Croatia

Takehiro Tomiyasu has described his performance in Japan’s round of 16 loss to Croatia as a ‘disaster’.

Although the Samurai blue army lost via penalties after playing out a 1-1 draw with the World Cup 2018 runners up winner, the Arsenal’s defender acknowledged that he wasn’t at his best in the game.

Takumi Minamino, Kaoru Mitoma and Maya Yoshida all missed their penalties following a 1-1 draw at Al Janoub Stadium, with Croatia eventually advancing to a quarter-final against Brazil.

In the said match, Tomiyasu registered the worst pass completion rate of any outfield player to play the full 120 minutes (67.7 per cent), while he lost possession a game-high 27 times-statistics according to Livescore.

“Of course, we are so disappointed with the result,” he said.

“My performance was a disaster so I am sorry for the team. I just need to be much, much better to help the team.

“It was not enough and also for the team, we did not deserve to win. We were so close to achieving our aim. They were better than us.

“I can’t be proud. I am not satisfied about what happened. This is football and we need to be much, much better to win against a stronger team.”

He is expected to return to club duty with Arsenal as they continue their push for Premier League trophy.

Arsenal will face West Ham on December 26 in their first World Cup game after the Qatar World Cup