Soccer: Doan voted Japan’s player of Qatar World Cup in poll

Two-goal hero Ritsu Doan was voted Japan’s player of the tournament at the recent World Cup in Qatar, according to the results of a poll released Friday by Sanno University.

The 24-year-old Freiburg attacker scored levelers in Japan’s historic 2-1 comeback wins over Germany and Spain to help his country top the daunting Group E.

Doan was selected by 199 of the 1,000 respondents to the survey conducted by the university’s Sports Management Research Center in late December following the tournament.

Brighton winger Kaoru Mitoma, meanwhile, had the biggest leap in public recognition among Japanese...