I think it’s fair to say I speak for all of us when I say it was a terrible decision by the Japan manager Moriyasu to exclude Kyogo and Reo Hatate from the World Cup squad.
Two players whose immense talent deserve to be showcased in the world’s largest football tournament.
I can only imagine the disappointment they must have felt waking up to that news.
And would there be any awkwardness between both of these players and Daizen Maeda who was selected for the squad?
Not really it seems.
As reported by The Mainichi, Kyogo revealed the frank and brief conversation he had with Daizen when the news broke:
“Well, I only just saw him before the game, so I said, ‘Congratulations,” and he said, ‘Thank you very much,’ and that was about it,”
Looking at this from an entirely selfish point of view, this snub will benefit Celtic as we will not need to worry about two of our best players suffering the curse of being potentially injured on international duty.
All both players can really do now is to show Moriyasu that he has made a huge mistake by performing on the pitch and that is something Ange Postecoglou should remind them of every single week.