Celtic has four players in Qatar ready to perform on World football’s biggest stage at the World Cup. There’s Cameron Carter-Vickers with the United States squad, Daizen Maeda with Japan, Josip Juranovic with Croatia and of course Aaron Mooy with Australia.
From a personal point of view those were the luck four but the number of Celtic stars at the World Cup could easily have been double that number with Matt O’Riley (Denmark), Kyogo and Reo Hatate (Japan) and Jota (Portugal) all being unlucky to miss out.
Indeed Kyogo not being included in the Japan squad was certainly a strange decision and one that attracted a great deal of criticism back in Japan. However he wasn’t the only one who was close to making the final squad as Matt O’Riley has revealed the conversations he had with the Denmark manager Kasper Hjulmand who explained why The Celtic Star will ultimately have to wait until after Qatar to break into the Denmark side.
“I was really disappointed. I spoke with the manager and I think I was close. I think it was just a tiny bit soon for me by the sound of it,” Matt O’Riley said as reported by Scottish Sun, after starring in Celtic’s second and final match in Australia against Premier League side Everton who had to park the bus and rely on a fine goalkeeping performance to keep a dominate Celtic out.
And O’Riley endured a horrible tackle – to happen in a friendly match is a disgrace – that could have broken his leg. Why referees are reluctant to punish such challenges in friendly matches is a mystery and surely only goes to encourage thuggish behaviour such as that from Everton’s Isaac Price which left O’Riley thanking his lucky stars that his season wasn’t over.
Back to O’Riley’s conversation with Denmark manager Kasper Hjulmand: “He was saying that the lead up to this World Cup was quite a strange one. There weren’t a lot of training sessions before, so to integrate me would have been a bit difficult, so I kind of understood.
“Hopefully there’s going to be more opportunities for me next year. If I keep my form and keep improving, hopefully I’ll be involved,” The Celtic midfielder said.
We mentioned just as O’Riley was about to play for Celtic against Real Madrid in the Champions League at their iconic Santiago Bernabéu Stadium that a year earlier he was preparing for an FA Cup reply with MK Dons away to Stevenage with the home side winning that one 2-1.
A year later O’Riley has won a league title, broken into the Denmark Under 21s and came within a whisker of making the World Cup and has performed well in the group stages of the Champions league having stood in so magnificently for the injured Celtic captain Callum McGregor in the sitting midfield role – the engine room of The Celtic team – as a nine point gap was opened up at the top of the league, looking down on theRangers.
“The fact I got so close in a relatively short period of time is a definite positive. I know it will sound weird, but this rest will do me good too. I should be able to come back in a really good place.
“I’ve been lucky enough to stay fit so far for the season. I’ve played a lot football. Just coming back fresh, I think that will help me kick on again.”
O’Riley knows that he’s not alone at Celtic in having to hear disappointing news from national team managers ahead of the World Cup. “I felt for both Reo and Kyogo. Selfishly, it’s probably a good thing for us. They’re going to come back fresh for the league, they’re not going to get injured or anything.
“We were a bit confused that they didn’t make it. I think a few boys were unlucky. Even Jota, I think he had a fair shout of going with Portugal.
“It’s a good thing we were all close. It shows we’re in a good position and hopefully next year we can all be involved with our national teams.”
On that shocking tackle from Everton’s Isaac Price on Sunday, O’Riley reckons that his luck was in given what the outcome might have been.
“I got lucky. I’m not even sure he got booked. I think because it was only a friendly the ref didn’t want to give a red card. But it’s a red card every other day. It was on my knee. I got a big mark from it.
“I had a word with the referee. He was trying to explain it to me, but I didn’t really understand. On another day I get my leg broken. When I watched it back I realised I got lucky.”
Thanks to everyone who purchased our fast selling new book The Celtic Rising over the weekend, signed copies will be posted to you today and to addresses all over the world. If you are planning on ordering The Celtic Rising please note that around 90% of all available copies have now been sold and delivered to Celtic homes. You can order below for speedy delivery and if you prefer your books via Kindle that’s available too.
