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WHEN AND WHERE ARE THE INTERNATIONAL CELTS ON DUTY?

The international break may have come at the wrong time for Celtic, with the opportunity to build upon a comfortable performance against St Johnstone being halted by the commencement of the upcoming international fixtures.


Celtic will be boosted by the fact that they will be sitting at the summit of the Premiership throughout the break, albeit with rivals Rangers in second place having a game in hand to be played at Dens Park.


With no competitive action involving Celtic, we take a look at the Celts representing their nations on international duty:


Alistair Johnston - Canada


Alistair Johnston has been contributing well to a lot of Celtic's attacking play in recent fixtures, and was unlucky not to be on the scoresheet against St Johnstone at the weekend, seeing his incredible finish ruled out for offside.


A regular fixture in the Canadian national team, Johnston will be lining up for Canada's CONCACAF Nations League clash with Trinidad and Tobago on Saturday in a fixture which is a promotion final of heightened importance for his national team.





Greg Taylor & Anthony Ralston - Scotland


Greg Taylor was speaking to the media last week on his aim of making the Scotland squad for the European Championships in Germany this summer, and those hopes will be boosted by his selection for Steve Clarke's squad to face the Netherlands and Northern Ireland.


An injury to Callum McGregor means he will miss out, but Taylor could be handed a chance to impress the boss at some stage during the friendlies in Amsterdam and at Hampden Park.


Adam Idah & Mikey Johnston - Ireland


A trio of Celts were called up to represent the Irish national team this weekend, but Liam Scales was forced to withdraw due to the injury that kept him out of Celtic's 3-1 victory over St Johnstone on Saturday.


Adam Idah's goalscoring form at Celtic since he arrived on loan from Norwich in January has resulted in the 23-year-old being named in the squad to face Belgium and Switzerland.


Mikey Johnston, who has been on a blistering run of form on loan at West Bromwich Albion, has impressed for the national team since switching allegiance from Scotland last year.


With two goals in his first eight international appearances, Johnston will be hoping to carry on his club form against an in-form Belgium side on Saturday before facing Switzerland on Tuesday.




Paulo Bernardo - Portugal Under-21s


An ever-present in the Portugal under-21 setup, Bernardo kept his place in the squad despite failing to set the world alight in some of his recent appearances for Celtic.


Portugal have two home qualifiers in their under-21 European Championships against Faroe Islands and Croatia. Bernardo played the full 90 minutes in the 4-0 victory over the Faroes yesterday.


Rocco Vata & Bosun Lawal - Ireland Under-21s


Rocco Vata netted a second-half hat-trick as Ireland trounced San Marino 7-0 this evening.


The 18-year-old's record for Ireland's under-aged teams is mightily impressive, with 9 goals in 21 appearances. His record at under-21 level is sensational, with 5 goals in just 158 minutes of football.


Bosun Lawal, who has been so impressive during his loan spell at Fleetwood Town, also played the full game, and former Celt Armstrong Okoflex, now with FC Zürich, also got on the scoresheet.


Daizen Maeda - Japan


Daizen Maeda is Hajime Moriyasu's preferred Japanese Celt, with his hat-trick against Livingston no doubt catching the eye of his national team boss.


Kyogo Furuhashi again misses out after being on the bench for some of Celtic's recent fixtures, and Tomoki Iwata may feel hard done by with no recognition from Moriyasu after finding a starting berth for the champions in recent weeks.


Having played the full 90 minutes of Japan's 1-0 victory over North Korea yesterday, Maeda will be flying back to Glasgow after Tuesday's rematch was postponed due to "unforeseen circumstances".



Matt O'Riley - Denmark


Having represented England at Under-16 & 18 levels, Matt O'Riley was called up for Denmark Under-21s where he made six appearances before being rewarded with full international honours by manager Kasper Hjulmand.


Celtic's playmaker will be hoping to add to his international minutes in the upcoming fixtures against Switzerland and Faroe Islands.


Hyunjun Yang – South Korea Under-23s


Having helped South Korea to the Asian Cup semi-final earlier this year, Yang will drop back into the under-23 squad for games against Thailand (which finished in a 1-0 win on Wednesday) and against Saudi Arabia tomorrow night.


Odin Holm - Norway Under-21s


Holm made a substitute appearance as Norway defeated the Netherlands 2-1 in a friendly yesterday. The midfielder will be hoping for more minutes against San Marino on Tuesday in the Euro qualifier.


Daniel Kelly - Scotland Under-19s


18-year-old Kelly has made five appearances under Brendan Rodgers and will be hoping for some minutes as Scotland take on Georgia tomorrow and Czechia on Tuesday in the Euro qualifiers.


James McKenzie // @JamesWHMcKenzie


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