Buzzing Daizen Maeda is ready to bring Celtic's high-octane brand of football to the World Cup when it kicks off next week. And he insists he's learned a thing or two about taking chances after their European disappointment.
Ange Postecoglou's team bowed out of the Champions League with just two points on the board despite competing well with Real Madrid, RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk. A failure to convert chances was their downfall, with Maeda in particular guilty with a number of gilt-edged misses - most notably in the 2-0 defeat to RB Leipzig.
The 25-year-old was the only Celtic star called up to the Japan squad for Qatar, with teammates Kyogo and Reo Hatate both surprisingly overlooked. And he reckons his team's hard luck in front of goal in Europe has taught him a couple of vital lessons he'll need to draw from when Japan take on Germany, Costa Rica and Span for a place in the knockout stages.
He told Japanese outlet KKT : "I was able to learn about the world level in the Champions League before the World Cup, so even though we didn't win, I think I got a lot out of it. I want to use the experience I gained in the Champions League to help me in this World Cup.
"Celtic didn't take our chances and the other team did. I don't think we will have many chances at the World Cup, but we can't win unless we take that one shot, and I think we can ride the wave if we do, so I want to make every one of them count."
It will be a different system than Maeda's used to with the high-pressing Celtic deployed likely to be swapped for a more conservative approach from Japan. But Maeda, who is expected to start in Thursday's warm-up friendly with Canada, is determined to bring his skillset to the table and use it to fire his team to glory.
He went on: "I had the impression that the opponents didn't like our pressing in the Champions League, and we created some chances with it, so I want to continue it at the World Cup. If we work hard and score goals, it will help the team a lot, so I want to prepare well. The Canada game is a friendly, but we want to play with the World Cup in mind."
READ NEXT
