There were differing fortunes for Celtic duo Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda in Japan’s squad for friendlies against Scotland and England.
Hajime Moriyasu has stuck by Maeda, a mainstay in his squads over recent years. However, despite something of a return to form for the Hoops, Hatate hasn’t made it.
That’s despite the Hoops midfielder being sat next to Moriyasu in the stands for Celtic’s Europa League win over Utrecht, in which he was serving a suspension.
Next week will mark over a year since Hatate’s last appearance for the Samurai Blue.
You can only keep one of Daizen Maeda or Reo Hatate at Celtic…
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Reo Hatate left out, Daizen Maeda in for Japan squad
There is no place either for Hoops hero Kyogo Furuhashi, whose lack of game time at Birmingham City has been seriously damning.
Ko Itakura, Keito Nakamura and Kaoru Mitoma – all included in the squad – have each been targeted by Celtic at one point or another.
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Japan will meet Scotland for the first time in 2009 in next weekend’s clash at Hampden Park.
The following Tuesday, they face Tomas Tuchel’s England at Wembley.
Moriyasu’s side were one of the very first teams to book their place in this summer’s World Cup, winning all six of their qualifying matches.
They have been drawn in Group B for the tournament and will face the Netherlands, Sebastian Tounekti’s Tunisia and one of Sweden, Ukraine, Albania or Poland.
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At the last instalment of the tournament, they stunned the world by finishing top of a group containing Spain and Germany in extremely dramatic circumstances.
They met Croatia in the round of 16, with Maeda scoring the opening goal. The game went to penalties, and the Hoops hero was ultimately eliminated by his close friend Josip Juranovic.
In stark contrast to Scotland, Japan have qualified for every World Cup since 1998, when they made their tournament debut.
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