Daizen Maeda has been ruled out of Japan\u2019s game against Paraguay with a fitness issue, but this isn\u2019t seen as serious. Sebastian Tounekti<\/a> and Cameron Carter-Vickers<\/a> have also travelled outside Europe.<\/p>\n A rare Uruguay call-up has come for Marcelo Saracchi,<\/a> who has struggled for international action in recent years with intense competition for their left-back spot.<\/p>\n But his call-up may not have come for the right reasons, as a South American football expert has discussed.<\/p>\n Tim Vickery on Marcelo Saracchi\u2019s Uruguay situation<\/p>\n Saracchi has started twice for the Hoops, vying for the left-back position with Kieran Tierney.<\/p>\n He marked his first with an excellent assist for Maeda\u2019s<\/a> opener against Kilmarnock, demonstrating the contributions he can make in the final third.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Peter Grant says what should have been \u2018much more clear\u2019 at Celtic fan board meeting<\/a><\/p>\n But this may not be the main reason why he is involved in his country\u2019s squad. <\/p>\n Manager Marcelo Bielsa earned Uruguay a \u00a3200k fine<\/a> by bringing a weakened squad to their fixtures for this international break.<\/p>\n Speaking on TalkSPORT, South American football expert Tim Vickery explained the situation \u2013 and it doesn\u2019t sound ideal for the Hoops left-back.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not only the Dominican Republic that Uruguay are playing \u2013 it\u2019s also Uzbekistan. And both games are taking place in Malaysia.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I think Bielsa has taken pity on his first-choice players. He\u2019s hardly taken anyone. I think he\u2019s using this opportunity to have a look at fringe players.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it is absolutely bizarre, and it comes from the fact that our [South America\u2019s] World Cup qualification campaign is finished, and it\u2019s still going on in lots of parts of the world.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is Bielsa saying: \u2018If you\u2019re not going to fix up any serious games, I\u2019m not going to fix up any serious players.\u2019 He has always danced to his own magnificent tune.\u201d<\/p>\n Which Celtic players are going to the World Cup?<\/p>\n As highlighted by Vickery, Uruguay\u2019s place at the World Cup<\/a> is secured, making this a vital season for Saracchi if he wants to be in Bielsa\u2019s squad at the tournament.<\/p>\n Tunisia have secured their place, so if Sebastian Tounekti<\/a> keeps up his level of performance from his Hoops appearances so far, he is likely to represent the Hoops at the tournament.<\/p>\n Japan have secured their ticket too, and Maeda has earned the trust of Japan Hajime Moriyasu, but Reo Hatate<\/a> not so much. He has not been included in their last two squads.<\/p>\n Cameron Carter-Vickers<\/a> and Auston Trusty<\/a> haven\u2019t had to worry about the USA\u2019s qualification campaign, with their place in the tournament being guaranteed as hosts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Celtic have players on international duty in every major continent. Brendan Rodgers will be watching his players in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[10043,218,47601,101,83524,56,54,55,6526],"class_list":{"0":"post-190270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-celtic","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-marcelo-saracchi","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tim-vickery","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom","16":"tag-world-cup"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Marcelo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2185037606-1024x707.jpg\")
Photo by ARISSON MARINHO\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n