‘Yang’s debut’ Celtic beat Ross County 4-2 behind Furuhashi’s 1 goal, 1 assist…Oh-Hyun-Kwon benched
Celtic’s ‘Korean Trio’ made their presence felt as substitutes and bench players, respectively.
Celtic defeated Ross County 4-2 in the opening match of the 2023-24 Scottish Premiership (SPFL) First Round on Friday afternoon (ET) at Celtic Park in Glasgow, Scotland.
It’s a cool start for Celtic, who won the domestic triple crown (League, League Cup, and Scottish Cup) last season. The Hoops have won their last eight games and are unbeaten in nine straight, including the League Cup.
The highly touted Korean trio of Oh Hyun-gyu, Yang Hyun-joon, and Kwon Hyuk-kyu all started from the bench, with only Yang Hyun-joon getting a chance to make his debut in the second half.
Riel Avada (Israel), Kyogo Furuhashi, and Daizen Maeda (Japan) were given the opportunity to start. Oh Hyun-gyu is Furuhashi and Yang Hyun-joon is Maeda’s competition.
Elsewhere, Joe Hart gets the gloves, while Anthony Ralston, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Mike Navrotzky, and Greg Taylor round out the defense. In the midfield, Callum McGregor, David Turnbull and Matthew O’Reilly combined. Kwon Hyuk-gyu had to watch Turnbull and McGregor.
Brendan Rodgers’ side lined up high to face Ross County from the start, and the Hoops’ counter-attacking strategy rattled the Celtic defense, starting with Simon Murray’s strike in the third minute. Celtic responded to Ross County’s intense pressure by controlling the tempo.
Eventually, a penalty kick broke the deadlock. In the 16th minute, a defender was brought down inside the penalty area and Celtic’s Turnbull stepped up to take the spot kick, which found the right corner of the net. The goal made the game easier, and in the 25th minute, Ruhashi got between the defense on the right flank and Abada’s low ball into the box, where he slotted a right-footed shot into the back of the net. It was the kind of finish that made him the top scorer last season.
The game quickly tilted in Celtic’s favor. The frequency of shots continued to increase and in the 41st minute, O’Reilly crossed a ball just outside the left endline and Turnbull struck a right-footed shot from the right side of the penalty area that bounced once and went in.
The game remained static after the start of the second half. Ross County brought on Kyle Turner in the 11th minute to shake things up, bringing on Kyle Turner, Scott Ellerdice, and Alex Samuel at the same time. They sent in a knife-edge cross into the back of the Celtic defense. The strategy worked and with 15 minutes left, Jordan White broke the 0-0 deadlock with a header from a Yann Danda corner.
Ross County responded to Celtic with toughness. Space opened up and Celtic didn’t miss. In the 28th minute, O’Reilly calmly collected a ball from Furuhashi in the center of midfield and fired a right-footed shot into the top corner.
In the 32nd minute, Furuhashi came off and Yang Hyun-joon came on. It was his debut. He was a right flanker, but he also moved to center forward. He played hard, even joining the defense. Oh Hyun-kyu and Kwon Hyuk-kyu will look forward to the next game.스포츠토토
Ahn Hyeon-joon was the epitome of teamwork as he moved into the space and linked up with his teammates when he got the ball. He played hard, moving from the center to the flanks. He didn’t have many chances to get on the ball, but he tried his best. In the extra time, he made a mistake in handling the ball with enthusiasm, which resulted in a foul, but it didn’t affect our momentum and we secured the win. Ross County were content to finish with two goals, with a goal from James Brown in added time.