Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda missed their last chance to stake their claim for a World Cup place as Celtic team-mate Kyogo featured in the first half of their goalless Qatar 2022 warm-up against Ecuador.
Maeda was ruled out of the friendly in Dusseldorf due to a thigh injury picked up earlier int he week with Kyogo stepping in but it was a a 45 minutes to forget the Hoops talisman missed a decent chance late in the first half before he was hooked at the break. It was the South Americans, who open the World Cup against the hosts on November 20, who had the best chances as they hit the post on the stroke of half-time before captain Enner Valencia had a penalty saved late on by Daniel Schmidt.
Samurai Blue boss Hajime Moriyasu fielded mainly a second string side but Hatate was left kicking his heels on the bench despite his seriously impressive displays for Ange Postecoglou’s side and the 24-year-old must be fearing for his Qatar chances.
Hatate hasn’t featured at all over the international break and there are no further friendly games before the squad is named, with only a bounce match against Canada the week before their World Cup opener against Germany. The midfielder was gutted at not featuring in the 2-0 win over USA last week and said at the time: “Honestly, I’m really disappointed that I was left out of the squad. I feel that I am strong enough.”
Maeda was left out of the squad entirely after the frontman was brought off after the first 45 minutes during Japan's earlier game against the USA where he picked up a knock.
It comes after fellow Hoops frontman Giorgos Giakoumakis suffered an injury scare, with the Greece international being sent for an MRI scan after issues with his thigh. Thankfully, no serious issues were detected and the Greek is likely to be ready to play when domestic action resumes this weekend.
Sead Haksabanovic has also given Postecoglou something to think about after the Montenegro star was forced off after 32 minutes following a heavy challenge during his country's clash with Finland on Monday.
READ NEXT
