With Celtic’s season now on a pause as domestic European leagues temporarily shut down for the first ever winter World Cup out in Qatar, fans have quite a few reasons to continue watching the action unfold a few thousand miles away as Celtic have a couple of players out there representing their country and looking to impress on the highest stage in football.
One such player is 24-year-old centre-half Cameron Carter Vickers who was named in their travelling squad for the competition. Having had a good season so far for Celtic, with 21 appearances before the pause kicked in, he was yet to feature for the United States and build upon the 12 caps he has gained so far, but on Tuesday evening, he received his World Cup debut as the USA took on Iran. For fans who like a flutter, the likes of this sportsbook would probably give good odds on him getting greater game time now.
FIFA may want football to dominate the tournament out in Qatar and they may well have made some bizarre, controversial and almost petty decisions so far as they close ranks to support their chosen incredibly well paying hosts, but there was no downplaying the significance of this tie given current affairs and the relationship both countries have with each other. It might have been painted as a grudge match in the media, but by all accounts the fans of each side represented something else entirely that should be applauded.
With the United States drawing both of their opening Group B games, they were actually behind Iran in the table going into the game on Tuesday, and unexpectedly Iran only needed to secure a draw to qualify through to the knockout stages.
Carter Vickers more than did his job on his world stage debut and helped them to secure a 1-0 victory on the night, which boosted them into second place in the Group B table with five points and secured their qualification through. The winning goal came in the 38th minute and was scored by Chelsea forward Christian Pulisic and Carter Vickers and the United States are now set for a last 16 tie up with the Netherlands.
With 99 minutes under Carter Vickers’ belt, their gaffer now has a question to ask given the performance he put in when it comes to the Netherlands tie as the BBC player ratings (chosen fan vote) has him down as the third best performer on the night and as I type it is currently 7.87 out of a maximum 10. He finds himself behind only Tyler Adams and scorer on the night, Pulisic himself.
It should certainly give the player a massive boost of confidence ahead of potential further involvement in the tournament, and of course, from a Celtic point of view it should mean that whatever happens for the United States in the remainder of the competition, he will definitely return to Parkhead in great spirits and good form as we then continue the remainder of the 2022/23 fixture list and aim to keep our current domestic run of form going in the Scottish Premiership. With the ultimate aim, obviously being, to secure yet another title.
