Kyogo Furuhashi has been an absolute revelation ever since joining Celtic in the summer of 2021 from Vissel Kobe. In many ways, he was the first sign of the change that Ange Postecoglou was going to bring at the club and has become one of the faces of this team. While there have been some questions about his form this season, nobody can deny his importance to this team.
It was his brace in the final vs Hibernian that sealed the League Cup win last season, and for the first time many fans believed that there was a chance that Celtic could compete for the league with the Rangers that very season.
His goals were very important in their eventual Premiership triumph as well although it is worth pointing out that he had to spend a lot of time out on the sidelines as well.
He has not been at his clinical best this season but still found the back of the net quite frequently for Celtic. Thus, it came as a shock to many people when he was left out Japan’s national team squad for the World Cup despite being heavily involved leading up to the tournament.
Japanese legend explains why Celtic star was snubbed from Japan’s World Cup squad
Shoji Jo does not view it as the fault of Kyogo or his form, for which he was left out of Japan’s squad. As reported by Glasgow Live, he told AS:
"“However, when it comes to the Japan team, he has not been able to give even 50 per cent of the performance that he has in Scotland. The reason is that there is no passer in the selection that can put Furuhashi in advantageous situations.”"
Thus, it is clear that Jo believes that it is the lack of a passer in the Japan squad which has prevented Kyogo from showing his best form.
Japan have had an interesting tournament to say the least, defeating Germany but then losing to Costa Rica, who had lost to 7-0 vs Spain in the game before that. They still do have a chance of making it to the last 16 though.