It was a crushing ending to Daizen Maeda’s World Cup on Monday.
With the World Cup knockout stages well underway, Maeda couldn’t follow the lead of his fellow Celtic teammate Alistair Johnston and progress to the last 16 of the tournament.
Japan were beaten right at the death by Carlo Ancelotti’s Brazil, with Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli coming off the bench and scoring a stoppage-time winner.
Maeda played most of the match before being subbed off just after Martinelli scored, as the all-action Celtic forward impressed quite a few people from across the world.
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How Celtic’s Daizen Maeda was rated as Japan lost to Brazil
One thing every Celtic fan knows that Maeda does better than anybody else is that sheer ability to work, work and work without the ball.
American outlet DAZN provided Maeda with a rating of ‘6.5’ and explained how his ‘tireless running’ lacked service from his Japanese teammates.
DAZN: ‘Led the pressing with tireless running but lacked service.’
Another American outlet, Yahoo, handed Maeda a rating of ‘6’, while GiveMeSport went one better and rated him a ‘7’, and Brazilian outlet Trivela thought he was worthy of a ‘5.’
Japanese media praise Maeda
The man who opened the scoring for Japan was Sano, whose outstanding run and then pinpoint finish from the edge of the box sent his supporters into party mode.
Japanese outlet Soccer Digest Web provided Sano with the ‘highest score’ in their ratings, but also gave their flowers to Maeda.
To nobody’s surprise, they highlighted Maeda’s ‘incredible stamina’ during both the attacking and defensive phases.
Soccer Digest Web: ‘The highest score goes to Sano, who scored a spectacular opening goal, with a score of 7.5. Daizen Maeda, who fought hard in both attack and defence with incredible stamina, and 34-year-old centre-back Taniguchi, who made crucial saves to prevent dangerous situations, also deserve 7 points.’
Another Japanese outlet, Sportsbul, handed Maeda a rating of ‘6’ for his performance and stated that he ‘irritated’ the Brazil team.
Sportsbul: ‘His individual speed irritated Brazil, and his dedication to defence was outstanding.’
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