Two Celts named in squad for Japan’s June friendlies
Soccer Football - Scottish Premiership - Celtic v Motherwell - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - May 14, 2022 Celtic's Yosuke Ideguchi, Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda celebrates winning the Scottish Premiership with the trophy Action Images via Reuters/Molly Darlington
Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda have been named in a 28 man squad for Japan’s four international friendlies next month.
Hajime Moriyasu’s squad face friendlies against Paraguay (June 2) then Brazil four days later followed by a Kirin Cup match against Ghana on June 11 with the final match three days later.
The internationals represent a continuation of Maeda’s marathon season but after four months out with a hamstring injury the opportunity to get some game time will probably be welcomed by Kyogo.
The #SamuraiBlue‘s oversized squad for its June friendlies:
GK: Eiji Kawashima, Shuichi Gonda, Daniel Schmidt, Keisuke Osako
DF: Yuto Nagatomo, Maya Yoshida, Shogo Taniguchi, Miki Yamane, Ko Itakura, Yuta Nakayama, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Hiroki Ito, Yukinari Sugawara
— Dan Orlowitz (@aishiterutokyo) May 20, 2022
That is by my count 28 players, just six of whom belong to J.League clubs (and only four of whom are outfield players).
Only one first-time call up in Hiroki Ito, who’s impressed during his loan at @VfB_int.
— Dan Orlowitz (@aishiterutokyo) May 20, 2022
Reo Hatate was involved in the Japan squad that qualified for the World Cup Finals in March but after discussing the impact of switching almost directly from the J-League to the SPFL he will have the benefit of a six week break before joining Celtic for pre-season training towards the end of June.
Scotland have international matches on June 1, 8, 11 and 14 plus June 5 away to Wales if they beat Ukraine on June 1.