CAMERON CARTER-VICKERS will have to wait until after tonight’s Premiership encounter against Motherwell at Fir Park to discover if he is heading for the Wold Cup Finals.
The US will announced their 26-man squad for the soccer extravaganza in Qatar at 10pm UK time with all the attendant razzmatazz at a ceremony in New York with the Empire State Building being lit up in red, white and blue.
However, Carter-Vickers will be totally focused on the action during a grey evening in North Lanarkshire rather than the colourful event in the Big Apple as he attempts to help Celtic to three more precious points in the team’s quest for a second successive title under the guidance of Ange Postecoglou.
HEADS I WIN…Cameron Carter-Vickers displays his true grit spirit as he heads clear from Alfredo Morelos in Celtic’s 4-0 derby romp at Parkhead in September.
Once again, the champions displayed their phenomenal never-say-die spirit when Dundee United claimed a freak equaliser three minutes from the end of a mainly one-sided confrontation to make it 2-2 at the weekend.
However, Kyogo Furuhashi nodded in a third goal for the battling hosts in the 90th minute following a cleverly-worked right-wing corner-kick involving Matt O’Riley and Anthony Ralston before Liel Abada chipped in the fourth in stoppage time.
The no-nonsense central defender, who agreed a permanent £6million four-year deal from Spurs in the summer, said: “I was buzzing with the end result.
“We have that belief in the squad now that no matter what time of the game it is, if we need a goal then we will throw everything at it and try and get one.
“We’ve done that against St Johnstone this season, and even Hearts away, that was a bit of a back-and-forth game and I felt we would always score.
“It’s good as a squad that we have that and we need to continue to do it.”
PICK IT OUT…Kyogo Furuhashi races away in triumph after heading in Celtic’s third goal against Dundee United.
HAND IT TO ME…Kyogo accepts the acclaim of the joyous Celtic support.
The Hoops go into this evening joust with Steven Hammell’s team seven points ahead after 13 games and bring down the curtain on the first half of the crusade when they meet Ross County at Parkhead on Saturday afternoon before the five-week Middle East soccer showpiece break.
Carter-Vickers, speaking to Celtic TV, continued: “We’re looking forward to the next two games and it’s important we get two good performances and results and that will set us up nicely for after the World Cup.
“Since the manager has been here we’ve only focused on our performances and what we’re doing and that’s what we’ll continue to do.
“We don’t look too much at the points. There was a stage last season where we were six points behind and we managed to come back and win the league.
“We know there’s still a lot of points to play for and it’s still early in the season. so it’s not something we take too much notice of.”
ROARING SUCCESS…Cameron Carter-Vickers yells in delight after another Celtic success story.
On the probability of being called up by his adopted nation, the stand-in skipper added: “For me, it’s always in the back of my head, but the way I look at it is that as long as I’m performing here and playing well consistently, that will give me the best chance of making the squad.
“As a person, I’m quite chilled and what will be will be. It’s the USA manager who makes the decision and all I can affect is my performance here, so that’s what I’m focusing on.
“It would be a dream come true. You grow up as a kid watching World Cups, so to be part of one would be a special moment.
“Ideally, you want to be in the squad first and then if you go there then you can’t perform at your top level if you take two games before that to play at half-speed.
“If you want to perform when the World Cup does come around then you have to be doing it before that and that’s my focus.”
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