The picture is positive for Celtic and our Japan stars during this international break.
Things haven’t always been straightforward for our Japanese contingent over the past couple of years. Celtic stars have had to travel to the other side of the globe regularly, often to play a matter of minutes under Hajime Moriyasu.
The Japan boss has referenced the poor standard of Scottish football on occasion, and even failed to take in a Celtic game during an April visit to Europe.
Moriyasu has often left out the likes of Kyogo Furuhashi and Reo Hatate despite the pair performing excellently for Celtic. Daizen Maeda has been the only consistent Celtic selection in recent times.
However, the overall picture is a better one for this international break at least. Sure, Hatate is injured and won’t be feauturing, but Furuhashi and Maeda are both involved and likely to get some game time.
More importantly, from a Celtic point of view, Japan are based in Europe this time round. The team are currently training in Germany and will take on Hansi Flick’s side in Wolfsburg on Saturday.
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They will then face Turkey next Tuesday in the Belgian city of Genk. (Nippon)
With the friendlies pretty close together, Moriyasu may well choose to field different sides. Japan only have a few more matches before next year’s delayed Asian Cup. One of their subsequent fixtures is against Alistair Johnston’s Canada.
For now though, we just hope that Furuhashi and Maeda feature for their countries and come through unscathed. With some very big Celtic fixtures on the horizon, it’s good news that they’re only travelling to and from Europe.
In other news, three reasons to feel very excited about Celtic after the international break