The 2022 World Cup in Qatar kicks off later this month and two Celtic players have recently found out that they will not be heading to play in the competition.

Japan have announced their provisional squad for the tournament and manager Hajime Moriyasu has surprisingly omitted Hoops duo Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi from the 27-man list, whilst their teammate Daizen Maeda has made the cut.

Kyogo has scored 29 goals in 45 matches in all competitions since joining Celtic in the summer of 2021 and may be wondering what else he could have done to secure a place.

Whilst those two Hoops stars will be disappointed, another player in Ange Postecoglou's squad who must now be called up to go to the tournament is USA international Cameron Carter-Vickers, as he has been in phenomenal form since the start of last season.

He was not included in his country's squad for their friendlies in September and has played more than 45 minutes in just two of the four matches he was involved in earlier this year, failing to come off the bench in one of them.

Carter-Vickers has only been included in two squads and has been capped just three times since 2019 but his performances for the Hoops suggest that he is deserving of a place on the plane to Qatar.

Walter Zimmerman and Aaron Long started ahead of him in the USMNT's last match against Saudi Arabia and there is a case to be made for the Celtic man to start ahead of them. The former has averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.10 - winning 62% of his duels - in the 32 appearances in the MLS in 2022, whilst Long has averaged a SofaScore rating of 6.82 - winning 60% of his battles - in 30 outings in the American top-flight.

Meanwhile, the £20k-per-week Celtic defender, who Jan Vertonghen once described as an "absolute beast", has averaged a score of 7.09 in the Premiership this season and won 66% of his duels, which shows that he is delivering quality displays on a consistent basis.

In the 2021/22 campaign, the 24-year-old helped the club to keep 17 clean sheets in 33 league matches and showcased his ability on the ball as he completed 90% of his attempted passes in those games, whilst averaging a SofaScore rating of 7.33 and impressively winning 68% of his battles.

USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter must now pay attention to the Celtic machine's form in Scotland and call him up to the squad.

Indeed, his statistics suggest that he could offer more than Zimmerman and Long in terms of his general performances and his physical dominance against opposition attackers.