Leeds United defender Joe Rodon played a big role in Wales’ 0-0 draw with South Korea on Thursday night.
Wales were playing an international friendly in preparation for their huge EUROs qualifier at Latvia on Monday against a South Korea side who reached the last-16 of the World Cup in 2022.
Korea have a number of top-quality players including Heung-Min Son, Kim Min-Jae and Hwang Hee-Chang in what was a big test for the likes of Rodon after Wales’ recent struggles.
Rodon was among the stand-out players on the pitch to nullify Korea’s attacking threat, restricting the away side to just four shots across the entirety of the 90 minutes.
The 25-year-old had an excellent set of statistics from the match and can take confidence from the clean sheet after helping Leeds to their first since February against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
Leeds’ Joe Rodon shines in Wales clean sheet
After really disappointing defeats to Armenia and Turkey in the last international break, the game against South Korea was a step in the right direction for Wales.
Alongside Ethan Ampadu – who the Welsh media hailed as ‘outstanding’ – Leeds defender Rodon produced an accomplished performance at the back for Rob Page’s side, winning all six of his defensive duels in the air, and on the ground.
Rodon also made four clearances, made two interceptions, completed two tackles and wasn’t dribbled past once, restricting the threat of Son, one of his close friends at parent club Tottenham Hotspur.
Rodon was also extremely efficient in possession, completing 96% of his 49 attempted passes, with two of his three attempted long balls successful too.
After a strong start to life at Leeds, hopefully he can also bring the form he showed on the international stage back with him to Elland Road ahead of the resumption of the club season.
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