Ange Postecoglou had dismissed the idea that the World Cup is on his radar when selecting his Celtic side.
This is a season like no other with the tournament taking place so late in the year in Qatar due to the heat.
It has almost divided the season up into two chunks with league leaders Celtic looking to end on a high with victories against Motherwell and Ross County.
Two Celts have already been confirmed for heading off to the tournament with Daizen Maeda and Aaron Mooy being selected for their respective national teams.
REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo
It is still likely that a further two Celts will be given the nod to go away to the tournament with defenders Josip Juranovic and Cameron Carter-Vickers expected to be called-up by Croatia and the USA. There is an outside chance that Jota could also be selected for the Portuguese national team.
Soccer Football – Champions League – Group F – Real Madrid v Celtic – Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain – November 2, 2022 Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior in action with Celtic’s Josip Juranovic REUTERS/Susana Vera
Some players have already felt the disappointment of losing out with Reo Hatate, Kyogo Furuhashi and Matt O’Riley being left out.
With it in mind that some players are possibly still playing to try and get into squads, the Celtic boss will not let it influence his team selection in the remaining two games as he wants maximum points.
“Our main focus is still us and trying to maintain a level of performance while making sure we don’t overburden any players,” said Ange Postecoglou as quoted by Sky Sports.
“For the most part we have done that. There are two or three who have probably played more than others but for the most part we have rotated the squad with performance in mind. It’s no different for these last two games.
“I will pick a team that I think will get the job done for us and gives us the best chance of success, and it will be the same on the weekend.
“You obviously hope the guys who are going away come through unscathed but it’s one of these things in football, you could try and protect players from anything happening but it could happen in the first training session for their country.
“It’s better that we just go about our business as normal as possible. The aim for the players themselves, they would much rather go out and play football and feel good about themselves than go a couple of weeks without playing.”
REUTERS/Susana Vera
The Celtic boss is expected to make some changes to his team for tomorrow evening’s visit to Fir Park but that will not be influence by the looming World Cup.
