CELTIC star Kyogo Furuhashi suffered a nightmare build-up to his World Cup tie for Japan after being stranded overnight and cooped up on a plane in Russia before their trip to Vietnam.
The freescoring Hoops hero is set to play for his country in a must-win qualifier in Hanoi and departed for Vietnam the day after he scored a double for Celtic in a 4-2 win at Dundee.
The Japanese FA chartered a plane for their 11 European-based players to fly from Amsterdam to Vietnam, with a refueling stop in Russia.
But the aircraft encountered a problem when refueling and was forced to sit on Russian soil for ten hours before it could take off, meaning Furuhashi missed Japan's training session before the game and was travelling for the best part of a full day.
The players weren't even allowed to leave the aircraft because of Russian visa issues and had to stay on board.
And Japan boss Hajime Moriyasu admitted he will have to make a decision on whether Furuhashi and his European-based teammates are fit enough to play.
He said: "I have to decide to see if these players are physically able to play in the match after such a journey.
"They arrived half a day later than expected.
"It's an unexpected situation. It can't be helped now. I have been told the players were able to get a good rest on the journey, but they've missed a training session so it's not the best preparation."
Japan captain Maya Yoshida, who was on the flight, admitted the journey was far from ideal. The Sampdoria star explained: "We had to sit on the plane in Russia for ten hours.
They wouldn't let us out of the plane because of visa issues so we had to sit on the aircraft.
"We spent our time on the plane moving, stretching and playing card games
"Maybe if we win, it will be one of those incidents we will talk and laugh about in years to come. But not now."
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