Game against Newco unlikely to be postponed

Despite reports to the contrary this morning, as things stand, the prospect of Celtic being able to cancel the rescheduled game against Newco on 2 February is significantly below 50%.  All other things being equal, Tom Rogic should be with the Australia squad for their game a day earlier and Kyogo Furuhashi should be with Japan.

It has been two years since Yosuke Ideguchi was involved with the Japan national team.  Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate have both been part of the Japan Under-23 squad in recent months.  None of the players signed on Friday are expected to be called up for the Japan World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia on 1 February.

Celtic need three or more players called up for international duty before they can apply for a postponement.  There is also the prospect that currently-injured Kyogo is not fit for the Japan squad.  If the game was tomorrow, the likelihood is that only Tom Rogic would be missing for permissible reasons, leaving Celtic two signings short of a cancellation.

Rogic and Kyogo have been the sugar in our tea this season, without them, we are significantly less potent, but we have a month to prepare.  Bring it on.