Kyogo, after confusion last week surrounding whether the Celtic player was going to travel to join the Japan squad, eventually headed on the plane to travel back home for the two World Cup qualifiers this week. Ange Postecoglou reckoned that Kyogo was in the squad for these games, contradicting some other sites which insisted the Celtic striker was NOT selected.
Both turned out to be correct with Kyogo being added to the squad when the national side got the good news from Celtic that the player had recovered from the knee injury sustained in the last International break in Japan’s hard-fought win over China.
That early recover allowed Kyogo to return to action a few games and a few weeks ahead of schedule in the Europa League match against Bayer Leverkusen last Thursday night. He was unlucky not to score in that match, indeed he could have got a hat-trick had his luck been better, but he did find the back of the net in Celtic 2-1 win against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Sunday.
The early return is a credit to the Celtic medical staff and a boost to Celtic, Japan and of course the very grateful player.
“There is no problem at all now with my knee,” Celtic’s Japanese star revealed in a report on Scottish Sun. “And for that, I must thank the people at my club for their co-operation and support so that I have been able to return quickly. I am grateful for them.
“I know there has been a lot of talk about what is my best position for Japan. In my opinion, it’s important not to just stick to a fixed position, If you can play your own way and do your own thing, it can be good for the team.
“What matters is not where I play, but collecting wins for Japan in two very important games for us.
“Personally, I enjoy this kind of pressure. I can only hope I can contribute to the team by doing the best I can and playing well. Hopefully, it will help us go a long way to qualifying for the World Cup.”
Japan play Saudi Arabia away (6pm) from home this evening then face Australia at home on Tuesday in their World Cup qualifiers. So that game on Tuesday will see Kyogo going up against his Celtic teammate Tom Rogic!
