Many Celtic fans were left surprised when Hajime Moriyasu made his selection for Japan’s World Cup squad.
Daizen Maeda was the only current Celtic player to be given the nod with Kyogo Furuhashi and Reo Hatate both missing out on selection for the tournament.
Kyogo was the most surprising player to have missed out on the squad with journalist Dan Orlowitz having told Celts Are Here that Reo Hatate was likely to miss out for a number of reasons.
He has unfortunately been a victim of the pandemic when it comes to playing time for his national team as he would have likely featured for Japan at the most recent Olympics which would gave him a chance to bed in having only been given one cap by Hajime Moriyasu. There is also a number of midfielders who were likely to be chosen in front of him.
However, Kyogo has represented his national team on 16 occasions and although he may not have caught too much attention during Celtic’s Champions League campaign he remains the clubs top goalscorer.
Moriyasu has turned to Shonan Bellmare striker Shuto Machino as an injury replacement for the World Cup who is not as experienced at international level with Kyogo once again being overlooked.
