With the last International break of this year now concluded, Celtic’s international contingent are currently on their way back to Lennoxtown, as they prepare for Saturday’s League Cup semi-final against St Johnstone at Hampden.
With many of our International stars achieving positive results representing their nations throughout the past week hopefully they will have an extra spring in their step when the domestic action resumes.
In the European qualifiers Celtic captain Callum McGregor was an integral part at the heart of the Scotland midfield as Steve Clarke’s men secured a seeded World Cup play-off spot with two excellent wins against Moldova and the in-form Denmark.
Playmaker David Turnbull also added to his Scotland caps by coming off the bench in the 1-0 win away to the Moldovans, while Anthony Ralston continued his impressive start to the season, making his well deserved international debut as a substitute in the 2-0 win against the Danes at Hampden.
The biggest success amoungst the International Celts would have to be Josip Juranovic. He started in both of Croatia’s matches as they secured automatic qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The right-back starred in a 7-1 hammering against Malta, before crucially beating Russia 1-0 after dominating the match but failing to score until a late own goal meant they topped the group pipping Russia by a single point.
Nir Bitton and Liel Abada played in both of Israel’s qualifiers, with Bitton even ending up on the score sheet in a 4-2 defeat to Austria, before the Israelis signed off their campaign with a 3-2 win against the Faroe Islands.
The hero of the delayed 2020 Scottish cup final, Conor Hazard, made it into the Northern Ireland squad but was an unused sub as they defeated Lithuania 1-0 and held Italy to a 0-0 draw.
In Asian qualification, Kyogo Furuhashi came off the bench twice for Japan, as they defeated Vietnam and Oman 1-0. The Japan manager Hajime Moriyasu once again took flak for not starting Kyogo, with Japan struggling for goals and the Celtic man in red-hot goalscoring form many can’t understand his decision to continually omit him from the starting eleven.
For the Scotland Under-21s Stephen Welsh, who has been recently reinstated into the heart of the Celtic defence due to an injury to Carl Starfelt, started in their two games with a 2-1 win over Kazakhstan and 2-0 defeat to Belgium. Unfortunately Welsh picked up a knock against the Red Devils and had to be withdrawn, giving young Adam Montgomery a run out. Hopefully Stephen will be ok for the weekend.
Finally in the Under-19s, centre back Dane Murray started all three of Scotland’s games, losing 3-2 to Armenia, beating Gibraltar 3-0 and drawing 1-1 with Croatia.
Conall McGinty
