Celtic could reap the benefits from Asian Cup participants

Celtic could reap the benefits from Asian Cup participants…

The Asian Cup is almost upon us, and as we know we have no fewer than five players currently on duty with their respective nations. Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda both will be with Japan, with Oh and Yang representing South Korea while Marco Tilio will be with Australia’s Socceroos.

There are two ways to look at these five players being away from Celtic, representing their countries at the Asian Cup. It’s clearly a blow to lose such vital players at an important stage of the campaign, but a good run in the tournament could be beneficial to not only the players, but to Celtic.

All nations with Celtic stars in the squads will be expected to go far in this tournament, so our players should get plenty of game time and for some it will be much needed.

Reo Hatate has just come back from injury and will reap the benefits of added game time in a competitive environment. The same could be said for Daizen Maeda who hasn’t looked his usual self since coming back from his own injury.

16th September 2023 Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland Scottish Premiership Football, Celtic versus Dundee Reo Hatate of Celtic warms up as he returns to the squad Photo ActionPlus – David Young

While both Oh and Yang who are not automatic starters at both club and country, have a chance to make a name for themselves, with South Korea, which would give them some much needed confidence. The same could also be said of Marco Tilio who for whatever reason can’t get a sniff of first team action under Brendan Rodgers. Maybe a good Asian Cup campaign could change that for all of them?

We saw it last year with Aaron Mooy and Daizen Maeda who came back from decent World Cup campaigns in Qatar and looked like different players in the second half of the campaign, particularly in the case of Mooy who was outstanding in what turned out to be the final few months of his career.

Could we reap the benefits again for the remainder of this campaign from a similar scenario? Let’s hope so.

Just an Ordinary Bhoy