Leeds United's World Cup representation at comical levels after Ao Tanaka development

Leeds United midfielder Ao Tanaka was an unused substitute as Japan battled to a 2-2 draw against the Netherlands.

Tanaka had been tipped by many to start at Dallas Stadium, but he did feature for a single minute.

The 27-year-old instead watched on in Arlington as Daichi Kamada snatched a dramatic point late on.

Keito Nakamura had earlier scored for Japan between goals from Virgil van Dijk and Crysencio Summerville in Sunday night's entertaining clash.

Tanaka's situation pretty much summed up how things have gone for Leeds so far in the opening round of World Cup group games.

And matters did not improve too much later on when Gabriel Gudmundsson took to the field for Sweden.

Leeds players being overlooked at World Cup

Tanaka was not the only Leeds player who has remained an unused substitute across the first four days of the global showpiece.

Brenden Aaronson surprisingly failed to get off the bench for the United States in their 4-1 win over Paraguay.

However, the scoreline in that contest perhaps justifies Mauricio Pochettino's decision.

There was less of an excuse for Noah Okafor not to feature in Switzerland's 1-1 draw with Qatar.

The Swiss led 1-0 but struggled to add a second, yet Okafor was overlooked among the subs and Qatar earned a shock late draw.

With Tanaka not featuring for Japan, it meant three out of three Leeds players had been snubbed by that point.

Gudmundsson stopped the rot when named in Sweden's starting line-up against Tunisia.

But Leeds fans would perhaps have preferred him to go the same way as his clubmates as Gudmundsson left the field injured.

Speaking after Sweden's 5-1 thrashing of Tunisia, boss Graham Potter played down injury fears as he said it was likely just cramp.

What's next for Leeds' World Cup representatives?

There are no more Leeds players at the tournament beyond those mentioned, so it is now a case of waiting for the second round of games.

Aaronson's USA face Australia on Friday night, while Okafor's Switzerland are in action against Bosnia and Herzegovina 24 hours earlier.

Tanaka will hope to get his first minutes when Japan take on Tunisia in the early hours of Sunday morning.

And Gudmundsson is now looking to prove his fitness ahead of Sweden against the Netherlands on Saturday.

Hopefully the next round of games gives the Leeds quartet more of a chance to show what they are capable of.