Reo Hatate is on the bench for Japan’s World Cup qualifier against Australia which kicks off at 9.10am Celtic Park time.
With Tom Rogic and Daizen Maeda out injured Hatate is the only Celtic player involved today with Japan starting the match three points ahead of the Socceroos with the two nations likely to be facing each other for the runners-up spot to Saudi Arabia and a place in the World Cup Finals.
Hatate was left out of the Japan squad for the last pair of World Cup qualifiers which allowed him to score for Celtic away to Hearts and in the Glasgow derby.
The players who didn’t make the bench are Daichi Hayashi, Shinnosuke Nakatani and Kosei Tani, the first two of whom were replacements for withdrawals.
— Dan Orlowitz (@aishiterutokyo) March 24, 2022
Next week Japan host Vietnam while Australia travel to Saudi Arabia, the shake up of the group will be clearer by 5pm today with China v Saudi Arabia kicking off at 5pm. The top two in the group qualify automatically with the third placed country going into a play-off against the third placed nation in the other Asian qualifying group.
Hatate has been capped at a variety of levels but hasn’t yet played at full international level,
