Kyogo Furuhashi breaks silence on Japan snub and responds by setting new Celtic target
The 28-year-old was left out of Japanese head coach Hajime Moriyasu’s squad for the Blue Samurai’s upcoming friendlies against Uruguay and Colombia despite scoring 26 goals in all competitions for Celtic this term. Moriyasu made reference to the standard of the cinch Premiership when justifying his selection, with midfielder Reo Hatate also omitted, although fellow club team-mate Daizen Maeda did make the cut. However, Furuhashi says his principal target is to score “clear 20 league goals” for Celtic as the Glasgow club chase a treble.
Speaking to Japanese media outlet Nikkan Gendai, Furuhashi said on his international snub: “As an individual, I still have a long way to go. After all, there is no future unless I climb the small stairs one by one. I am not thinking about the next Japan national team, and I am concentrating on the next match for Celtic. There have been games where Daizen has played as a centre forward (at Celtic), so I don’t think I have any guarantee of being a starting line-up. I think it's similar situation. I just want to clear 20 goals in the league and aim for a high goal of 25 or 30. In every game, there are more chances and there are many situations where I have to score.”
Furuhashi has been capped 16 times by Japan and has scored three goals, although his last match for his country came in September last year and he was left out for the 2022 World Cup squad.