Everyone’s talking about international football right now and if you’ve been taking a look at the upcoming schedules, you might be panicking about what Japan have in store this summer.
Three of Celtic’s key players have been involved with the national team this year and two of them were called up for matches against Paraguay, Brazil, Ghana and Chile or Tunisia this month.
That’s a heavy enough gauntlet of fixtures after a long European season for both Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi. Thankfully Reo Hatate was spared the physical exertion.
Looking ahead, Japan are set to participate in the East Asian Football Championship, with three matches on the books against Hong Kong, China and South Korea in mid-to-late July.
However, Celtic supporters don’t need to worry about Kyogo and company jetting off to participate. They’ll be in Scotland with the Bhoys preparing for the start of the Premiership season at the end of next month.
The EAFF tournament falls outside of FIFA’s international match calendar, so there’s no obligation for Celtic to release players for the fixtures.
In fact, traditionally, the silverware is fought for largely by players from the respective countries’ domestic leagues, or at least leagues in the region.
All members of Japan’s 2019 squad for the tournament were taken from the J-League, with many of them aged 23 or under.
Celtic’s Japanese trio, along with Yosuke Ideguchi, will be happily embedded with Ange Postecoglou’s group and preparing for the new campaign, which could be the biggest of their careers.
There’s still a long way to go in this June international window, and Celtic are already waiting on injury news regarding Carl Starfelt.
Thankfully though, by the middle of the month, Postecoglou’s players will be solely focused on what’s ahead at Celtic.
In other news, Report: Celtic release 3 more players after initial Luca Connell news.
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