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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Robbie Copeland

Tearful Daizen Maeda shown Celtic solidarity by Josip Juranovic as Japan suffer World Cup heartbreak

Josip Juranovic consoled his Celtic teammate Daizen Maeda after Croatia beat Japan on penalties in Qatar.

The two Parkhead stars went toe-to-toe in the last 16 and it was a tight one with Maeda's first-half strike later cancelled out by a brilliant Ivan Perisic header. The tie went the distance and it was eventually Croatia who progressed after a woeful penalty performance from the Japanese, who missed three of their four attempts.

Neither Celtic star got the chance to take a penalty with Maeda substituted off while Juranovic wasn't selected to take one of their first four despite being Ange Postecoglou 's designated penalty taker. But it was still victory for his country who will face either Brazil or South Korea in the last eight hoping to go one better than they did in 2018 and win the whole thing. It was heartbreak for Japan though who stunned the world by topping their group which featured Spain and Germany. And Maeda, who gained plaudits for his industrious performance, was in tears after their exit.

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