CELTIC HAVE seen two players called up to Japan’s Asian Cup squad but not top goalscorer Kyogo Furuhashi.
Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate have both been included in the squad.
Hatate has not played since suffering a hamstring injury on 25 October but was back on the bench for Celtic’s win over Rangers on Saturday.
Japan open their Qatar campaign against Vietnam on 14 January and finish the group stage on 24 January. 16 teams go into the knockout stages ahead of the final on 10 February.
South Korea pair Oh Hyeon-gyu and Yang Hyun-jun are also going to the tournament.
That’s the catch with Asian and Africa player heading off mid season to these tournaments
@Red Rooster: Asia Cup was due to be played in the summer but China pulled out of hosting. South Korea then had the strongest bid for a June 2022 tournament but AFC followed FIFA in awarding the tournament to Qatar, which means January. They had scheduled a June tournament but changed their minds to give it to Qatar despite there being a better June bid. Useless.