Kyogo Furuhashi

Furuhashi nets 30th goal as Celtic seal Scottish title

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  Kyogo Furuhashi of Celtic scores the opening goal in the team's Scottish Premiership 2-0 win away to Hearts in Edinburgh on Sunday.

EDINBURGH – Kyogo Furuhashi bagged his 30th goal of the season Sunday as Celtic sealed their second successive Scottish Premiership title with a 2-0 win away to a 10-man Hearts.

The Glasgow club, managed by former Yokohama F Marinos boss Ange Postecoglou, wrapped up the race with four games to spare, but still has a record points total to play for.

Furuhashi opened the scoring in the 67th minute after Reo Hatate's cross found him in front of goal.

"I thought a chance would definitely come. I'm really happy to have scored the opening goal in the title-clinching game," said Furuhashi, whose tally includes a league-best 24 goals in the Premiership.

Hearts were controversially reduced to 10 men with defender Alex Cochrane's red card on the stroke of halftime, with a video review determining he denied Daizen Maeda a goal-scoring opportunity near the area.

Oh Hyeon Gyu added the visitors' second 10 minutes from the end after coming off the bench for Furuhashi, who has 50 goals for Celtic since transferring from Vissel Kobe in July 2021.

The milestone follows the disappointment of being left out of Japan's 2022 World Cup squad, which Furuhashi has turned into a source of motivation.

"A lot of things have happened, but they've all contributed to my growth," Furuhashi said. "I'm improving my mentality and technical ability little by little."

The victory secured Celtic's 10th title in 11 seasons and they can claim a domestic treble if they beat Inverness in the Scottish Cup final on June 3. They can also reach a record 107-point total by winning the remainder of their league games.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2023/05/08/soccer/furuhashi-celtic-score/

 

Celtic wins league in Scotland for 2nd part of treble bid

GLASGOW
It’s two down and one to go for treble-chasing Celtic in Scottish soccer.

The Glasgow club clinched the second leg of its latest bid for three domestic trophies in one season by retaining the league title Sunday with four games to spare.

A 2-0 win at Hearts left Celtic with an unassailable lead over second-place Rangers, its fierce city rival, in the Scottish Premiership.

Rangers, beware. Celtic now has 53 league titles in its history — only two off Rangers’ record haul of 55 — after winning a 11th championship in the last 12 years.

Celtic had already won the Scottish League Cup, beating Rangers 2-1 in the final in February, and plays Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish FA Cup final on June 3 in an attempt to complete the treble — a feat the team achieved every year from 2017-20.

Celtic has only lost one of its 34 league games this season — at St. Mirren in September — and there was little danger of a second defeat after Hearts defender Alex Cochrane was sent off in the 45th minute with the score at 0-0 at Tynecastle.

Japan striker Kyogo Furuhashi bundled in the opening goal in the 67th and had to go off moments later with an injury sustained in the act of scoring.

South Korea striker Oh Hyeon-gyu then glanced in the second goal in the 80th to secure victory for Celtic and a second straight league title under its Australian manager, Ange Postecoglou.

The only other team to win a Scottish league title since 2012 was Rangers in 2021, when Liverpool great Steven Gerrard was manager of the team in the blue half of Glasgow. That prevented an unprecedented 10th straight league title for Celtic, which has bounced back with two in a row.

https://japantoday.com/category/sports/celtic-wins-league-in-scotland-for-2nd-part-of-treble-bid

 

According to Transfermarkt, since Kyogo joined Celtic he's played the equivalent of
57 full games.

He has 50 goals.

No penalties.

 

It was a milestone day for Kyogo as he scored his 30th goal of the season and his 50th overall in Celtic colours.

More importantly, however, his strike at Tynecastle put the Hoops in the lead against Hearts and on their way to a second consecutive league title under Ange Postecoglou.

The Japanese striker has been a key figure in the team since arriving in July 2021 and making his debut at Tynecastle on the opening day of last season.

And he was delighted to play his part in securing another Premiership title for Celtic.

Speaking to Celtic TV immediately after the match, Kyogo said: “Throughout the 90 minutes it was a tough game but we worked hard and then we got the win and ended up winning the title, so I’m very happy.

'It means a lot to get 50 goals for Celtic, but the goal I got today was because of everyone’s hard work, so I’m very happy to score and to win the game.'

“Our job is to see the happy faces of the supporters so I’m very glad to see the supporters’ happiness again.

“We still have other games so we go again for the last five games and hopefully we finish the season in a good way.”

 

He will really enjoy Knock out Champions League Football next season and the Season after that

 

And we know why

 

When yer going up to the bar for another beer and yer mate wants a free one

 

Kyogo Furuhashi: From early rejection to Andres Iniesta partnership & Celtic stardom

One phone call changed everything for Kyogo Furuhashi. Racked with self-doubt and frustration, he was contemplating giving up on his dreams of making it as a professional footballer.

Those hopes had been tarnished by a series of trials with J-League clubs which failed to yield a single offer for the young striker in his final year at Chuo University in Japan.

The notion he would be freewheeling alongside Andres Iniesta in a mere couple of years seemed absurd.

Disillusioned, Kyogo phoned home and said to his mother, "maybe I should call it a day".

The blunt response of "suit yourself" was enough to jolt him back from the brink.

"'I must be nuts', I thought," Kyogo told Fifa earlier this year as he recalled being at a career crossroads.

"My parents had paid for me to get this far, attend university and play all the football I wanted," he added. "It was the slap in the face I needed to redouble my efforts."

The rest, as they say, is history for the 28-year-old.

Kyogo is now celebrating a second successive league title with Celtic, where he is idolised and has reached 50 goals in just 77 appearances.

'Precious' partnership with Iniesta
When his perseverance was rewarded with a leap into the professional ranks in early 2017 at the age of 22, it was to the second-tier J2 League with FC Gifu.

The circuitous route to the top proved beneficial for a striker regarded as a late developer, giving him significantly more game time than he would have been afforded as a J-League rookie straight out of university.

He made 44 appearances in his debut campaign, scoring six times, before a shift from the flank to centre-forward the following season fast-tracked his progress. A burst of eight goals in eight games signified Kyogo as one of Japan's brightest prospects.

Vissel Kobe promptly took him to the J-League in summer 2018 and dropped him into a soap opera scenario. Having bought the club in 2014, billionaire business magnate Hiroshi Mikitani wasn't shy in spending, with ageing European stars Iniesta, David Villa, Lukas Podolski and Thomas Vermaelen all brought in.

A first major trophy was delivered with Emperor's Cup success in 2019, but the hefty outlay geared towards league glory didn't pay off.

"Mikitani was trying to buy a couple of stars and make an instant champion - it didn't work at all," says Dan Orlowitz, football writer with the Japan Times.

"You have to understand Vissel are the biggest punchline for J-League watchers. Mikitani has no patience - they went through something like 10 managers in four seasons from mid-2017."

Despite that managerial churn, Kyogo flourished as the attacking fulcrum in tandem with Barcelona and Spain icon Iniesta.

Kyogo's intelligent movement was the perfect foil for Iniesta, still a master passer in his 30s. Those years sharpened Kyogo's game and left a big impression.

"Even if Vissel were a joke as a club sometimes, for Furuhashi to play with Iniesta and Villa and Podolski, and to train with them every day, that's a masterclass," adds Orlowitz.

"Iniesta was a mentor. He really helped Kyogo develop. They had such a rhythm that when Kyogo left there was a disconnect between Iniesta and the rest of the formation."

Kyogo remembers it as a "blessed time" and made sure to listen and act upon every morsel of advice as he learned from a legend.

"It was precious, I'll never forget it," Kyogo told Fifa. "Every day it was just so much fun to go to training. It was so full of surprises and I could feel how much I was growing. I absorbed a lot.

"Before our season kicked off, Iniesta said to me, 'just be yourself and all will be well - play with confidence', and it really inspired me to let my confident side show on the pitch."


Taking Scottish football by storm
Ange Postecoglou, then at the helm of Yokohama Marinos, was among the admirers as Kyogo's talent rocketed, accumulating 49 goals and 18 assists in 111 appearances for Vissel.

When Postecoglou swapped Japan for Glasgow in June 2021, he was faced with a gargantuan Celtic rebuild. The first piece of the jigsaw - and arguably still the most important - was the £4.6m signing of Kyogo.

Celtic were still reeling from the chaos and calamity of the failed 10-in-a-row season. With Odsonne Edouard soon to depart, the club needed a striker to hang their hopes upon.

Enter Kyogo, who has come to embody the Postecoglou project with his exhaustive work-rate, dynamism, and quality.

The striker ended his debut campaign in Scotland with 20 goals in 33 games, despite missing three-and-a-half months with a hamstring injury.

This term he has kicked on again. In big games, Kyogo comes up with big goals.

He has a knack of scoring against Rangers - there was the last-gasp equaliser at Ibrox in January, the match-winning double in the League Cup final and another two in the 3-2 league win last month.

And it was apt that when Celtic were toiling against Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday, it was their Japan star who again stepped up, netting his 30th of the season - and reaching a half-century of goals for the club - to secure their second title under Postecoglou.

Kyogo's stats set him apart.

He is the Premiership's leading scorer this season on 24 and has the highest shot conversion rate (29.6%) while averaging a goal every 90 minutes, also a league best. His expected goals (xG) is just 18.72, amplifying his ability to convert difficult chances.

The Japanese is the first Celtic player since Moussa Dembele in the treble-winning season of 2016-17 to reach 30 goals, and has even invited debate over whether he is the club's best striker since Swede Henrik Larsson.

"He's such a huge figure for Celtic," says former Scotland midfielder Michael Stewart.

"He's done it since the day he arrived with the energy he brings. He's been a massive signing for Celtic and will continue to be."

International travails for a humble hero
Yet while he is the darling of Celtic, Kyogo's recent international omission causes befuddlement on these shores.

There was a revealing moment in a documentary on Kyogo in his homeland. He sits cross-legged on the couch at his flat in Scotland watching Japan manager Hajime Moriyasu announce his squad on television for last winter's World Cup in Qatar.

A rueful look and slight shake of the head accompany the realisation he has been left out. At 28, his chance of a World Cup may never come again. The camera lingers on his expression. For fans accustomed to his beaming grin, it's a jarring sight.

Kyogo's reaction since has highlighted the strength of character behind the trademark smile as he powers Celtic to the brink of a treble. His manager and team-mates need no convincing of his talent, which comes with no airs and graces.

Midfielder Matt O'Riley describes the humble forward as "genuinely the nicest man I've ever met", while Postecoglou adds: "From the moment this guy arrived he's been outstanding.

"There's not much of him out there and he's up against big strong defenders who get very physical with him at times. But make no mistake, he's a winner."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65521453

 

My *!!! How happy do they all look?????!!!! Maybe a bit exaggerated but even so, they all look like they are in ‘Paradise’…

 

Anybody know how many penalties he's been awarded, I mean I keep hearing he's the biggest diving cheat in the history of scottish football, surely there's figures to back this up?

 

Cleaned up at the awards and we'll deserved, that dafabet logo trophy is * though, player of the season should be a nicer trophy than that

 

Just keeping it warm for TikTok Todd.

 

Well deserved. Our hardest working CF since Henrik. Not just his goals, but the space he creates for others, and his constant pressing.