The news that Daizen Maeda had to retire from the Japan international team due to injury caught everyone off guard.
The following week includes a pair of home friendlies for the Samurai Blue. Canada, led by Alistair Johnston, are the first opponent on Friday, followed by Tunisia on Tuesday.
Kyogo Furuhashi and Reo Hatate of Celtic could play in the games, but Maeda won’t because he withdrew due to a knock on Monday.
Only “due to injury” was provided by the official JFA website, which begs the question given the attacker’s normally spirited performance against Kilmarnock on Saturday.
In the 89th minute of the 3-1 victory, Maeda jogged off to be replaced by Hyunjun Yang, showing no signs of having a knock.
He had just driven past the Killie left-back after receiving the ball from Johnston on the wide right. There was zero indication that there was a problem.
Of course, he might have just experienced something after being substituted, or it might have been so slight that he was still able to participate in the game. Whatever the case may be, it certainly seems to be excellent news for us.
We would have noticed anything on the field if Maeda’s injury was serious. It’s probably just a little bit of a knock that going to the other side of the planet is pointless.
Instead, he’ll probably remain in Scotland to acclimate, missing hopefully no Celtic games, and be prepared for Tynecastle in less than a fortnight.
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