Kyogo Furuhashi has sent out a message to his followers after Japan’s defeat to Brazil on Monday. The South American side won thanks to a penalty from Neymar but Japan really struggled at times to gain a foot hold in the game.
Kyogo started the game for his country but couldn’t get into the game at all. The player had just one shot which was blocked and a grand total of five touches on the ball the entire game before he was subbed off on the 67th minute.
‘Thank you for the support, I’m working hard to turn the experience into growth’
The Celtic star also didn’t manage to win any of his five ground duels with the Brazilian opposition.
Instead of being downbeat, the Celtic striker has vowed to learn and grow from the experience against a much better side.
It’s going to be imperative Kyogo takes lessons from games like this. Celtic are set to go into the Champions League where they will be up against teams who will starve Celtic of possession.
The Japanese star and his Celtic teammates bust be decisive and clinical during these games.
It could be an argument for Giakoumakis being our main striker when it comes to these sorts of Champions League games but then again he could be just as isolated. It’s a massive task shared, playing against a side like Brazil won’t hurt at all for Kyogo.
His midfield failed repeatedly to find him. They opted instead to hold the ball up, go on mazy runs and ultimately surrender possession.
Kyogo should have been frustrated with them! He was making moves the whole game, creating opportunities for that quick pass to him in the danger area, but was left waiting and his off the ball movement went to waste.
Same thing happened throughout last season with Celtic for him; he regularly makes defence splitting runs and all the midfield need to do is pass to him quickly, and let him worry about creating goals while he has defences numbers reduced to a favourable level.
No point having a centre forward on the park if you’re just going to hold on to the ball in midfield, allowing your opponent to get numbers back behind the ball. Need to trust the Centre Forward to do what he’s paid to do, spot his movement early and supply him.
Was similar when Maeda replaced him. They have some talented midfielders(talented team throughout), Japan, who looked very comfortable on the ball, but who like to hold on to it a bit too much.