どうもありがとうございます, 中村俊輔

There’s a story that I like to tell my Celtic-following friends — or anyone who wants to hear it — despite the fact it makes me look like a complete idiot (which, if I’m being absolutely honest, is not terribly hard to do).

When I lived in Japan in 1997 and was teaching English to a class of advanced students — young professionals whose English was (and probably still is) better than most Americans I know — the class took “Larry-sensei” to a Yokohama F. Marinos match. While at the stadium, the thing that impressed me most was the fact that I could get phenomenally decent ramen at the snack stand, which I ate at my seat as my students enjoyed the game.

Playing in this particular game, as I found out years later as a Celtic supporter when I asked one of my students with whom I am still in touch, was a rookie named Shunsuke Nakamura.

Outside of the ramen, the then-incomprehensible cheers that I chanted with my students, and winning the match against either Jubilo Iwata or Urawa Reds, I don’t remember seeing Nakamura play, even though apparently I did.

See? I told you: Complete idiot. Just hand me that pointed hat with the word “DUNCE” on it and I’ll just go to the corner and sit on that stool.

It wasn’t until years later that, after adopting football and supporting Celtic, I discovered Nakamura and his greatness.

Mention Shunsuke Nakamura and Manchester United in the same sentence, and chances are you’re talking about this free kick from the 2006 UEFA Champions League match.

Now, the legendary magician who made balls swerve and appear in the back of the net — sometimes at historic times for Celtic — is hanging up his boots at the ripe old age of 44, at the end of second-tier Yokohama FC’s season.

Though he wasn’t at Celtic for as long as he should have been, leaving in 2009 for Espanyol of La Liga before returning to Japan, his time in the Hoops was a storied one, with 166 appearances and 34 goals. Not a high goal count like other Celtic legends, perhaps, but some of those goals were historic. Winning the league on a free kick against Kilmarnock, the two free-kick goals against Manchester United, and there’s always his first goal against Rangers — back before they were liquidated in 2012 — that defied physics; anything that makes that idiot Allan McGregor look this foolish deserves to hang in the Lourve.

There was an NHK program which was broadcast shortly after Nakamura’s departure from Celtic which outlines the effect he had on the club and Glasgow itself. The narrator speaks in Japanese, but much of it is in English (with Japanese subtitles) with Gordon Strachan and Neil Lennon giving insights into Nakamura’s time at Celtic, as well as several fans telling their impressions of Nakamura. There’s even a very young Kieran Tierney and his family talking about Nakamura’s influence on the lad.

So どうもありがとうございます — doumo arigatou gozaimasu or “thank you very much” — to 中村俊輔 (Nakamura Shunsuke) for blazing that trail from Japan to Scotland for others to follow. Thankfully, we have a new generation of Japanese players following in Nakamura’s footsteps at Celtic, coincidentally led by the former manager of Yokohama F. Marinos, Ange Postecoglou.

One more thing

Because we’re speaking about Japanese players in Scotland, Kyogo Furuhashi seems to be wearing a target on his back, rhetorically speaking, and it wasn’t more evident than it was against Hibernian last week. Kyogo ended up on the pitch a lot more than he should have, and on one than more occasion Hibernian’s Elie Youan flattened Kyogo, once in front of the referee which resulted in — wait for it — no call.

Of course, minutes later Kyogo retaliated with a push, and the referee was all over that with a whistle in world-record time.

I hate repeating myself, but I will: The SPFL is a rampant breeding ground for hammerthrowing nobodies festering in a petri dish of crooked officiating, both contributing to making the league — and Scottish football — the laughingstock of the world. It’s not enough to just shrug your shoulders and say, “Well, it’s always been that way.” Either it changes and the football becomes respectable, or it founders in a chorus of “same as it ever was.”

Rant over. Celtic is at Fir Park on Wednesday to play Motherwell in a League Cup match at the very weird hour of 10:15 a.m. US Pacific Time. I’ll have on my Celtic jersey underneath my strike t-shirt, as I’ll be on a picket line during my union’s strike against the City of Santa Cruz. But I will have the game on my phone, so Mon the Hoops!

KR Reykjavik: More questions than answers

Sometimes a victory like the one against KR Reykjavik on Tuesday at Celtic Park — a 6-0 scorefest which had the Hoops uncharacteristically leading comfortably at the half — provides more questions than answers going forward in both the regular season as well as the UEFA Champions rounds.

Regardless, we advance in the first round of the UEFA Champions qualifying round, and in the way Celtic played after, well, a forced hiatus, the Hoops have put everyone on notice.

Here are the takeaways — some of them questions — from the game on Tuesday:

Elhamed and Bitton: Could they be starters?

With the absence of the both Jonny Hayes and Jozo Simunovic and the precariously prickly position it puts the club on the defensive end, the wailing and gnashing of teeth around acquiring a center-back has risen to a deafening cresendo. So we may have had a look at the future on Tuesday with Neil Lennon playing Hatem Elhamed and Nir Bitton in the backfield, to resounding success. Elhamed was consistent all game on both ends of the pitch and Bitton kept the door locked, rhetorically speaking, on our end of the pitch, even at one point making a goal-saving play late in the game against a breaking RK Reykjavik player bearing down on Vasilis Barkas. Of course, the question arises: “Oh, my days! What do we do with Jeremie Frimpong?” That, of course is a valid question, and it would be hard to ascertain which of the two get the playing time.

This is something for the coaches to decide, obviously, but maybe the playing time will be divided up by situation. Or the pair can play rock-paper-scissors before the game and the winner starts.

A Hatem Elhamed cross early in the 2nd half led to a goal by Greg Taylor, right, making it 4-0 Celtic in Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League qualifying round game against KR Reykjavik at Celtic Park. It was Taylor’s first goal as a Celt and his second career goal overall.

Is Greg Taylor a scoring machine?

Greg Taylor had one of his typical Greg Taylor games — he took the ball down the pitch on multiple occasions and crossed the ball, most of the time, or passed back when nothing was available up front. It is great to see the Hoops get the ball down the pitch so quickly, and in large part we have The Greenock Kid to thank for that. But what we didn’t expect, and it delights those of us who have warmed to his presence at Celtic, is that early in the 2nd half, Taylor did the unthinkable — he scored. Not only that, he scored on a header. It was his 2nd career goal, and his first with Celtic, so this could change the playmaking calculus of the squad if Greg Taylor the assist king becomes Greg Taylor the scoring threat.

Or it was just a fluke. The jury’s still out on that one.

No question: Odsonne Edouard is unstoppable

Not a question this time, just fact: Edouard spends a ton of time being double-, triple-, and quadruple-teamed and under many of those circumstances, he may not succeed in finding the net. But — and this is a big “but” — when he does manage to break away, he is lethal. We saw that in the first half where Eddy forced an own-goal on a hapless RK Reykjavik defender trying to cover him. And in the 2nd half, Odsonne waltzed — literally — between five defenders to find room to take a successful shot shortly before going off for the rest of the game. This prompted John Hartson to say that it added 5 million pounds to Eddy’s value for EPL clubs, which came back in a post-game discussion with Gordon Strachan on Celtic TV that turned into a rising disagreement just prior to Neil Lennon’s postgame interview.

Which brings up the question . . .

Gordon Strachan or John Hartson?

Celtic TV had both Gordon Strachan and John Hartson on the air for the game on Tuesday. Now I can see that if you’re on the air with your former boss, you might be a little intimidated, but I thought Hartson did his usual good job of analysis overall during the game, and from what I’ve seen on Gordon Strachan — mostly in interviews and in his extended role in the “Broony” DVD — his presence is a pleasant and welcome surprise on the Celtic TV broadcast team. But they almost came to blows, or so it seemed, in the post-game wrapup where they were discussing where players should play. So pick your fighter . . .

Me? Despite the in-depth analysis by both, I want Kelly Clark back on the air.

Moi Elyounoussi: Is he the real deal?

Thanks to a foot injury last season, we didn’t get to see a lot of Mohammed Elyounoussi. If Tuesday’s game was any indication, hopefully we will make up for lost time this season, as Moi gave a clinic on Tuesday, easily earning Man of the Match accolades. His first touch on his first goal was pretty remarkable, and he was all over the pitch for the rest of the 90+ minutes, scoring a second goal at the end of the game on a beautiful cross from Olivier Ntcham. If Elyounoussi plays at this level all season, Celtic will be even more unstoppable than they would normally be.

One more thing . . .

Looking at my notes written during the game — yes, I am geeky enough to do that — I made this note: 70 min CM saves corner, E scores. The CM in this case is Callum McGregor, who kept the ball in after Ryan Christie’s corner kick at the 7oth minute was cleared out by KR Reykjavik, and CalMac got the ball back into Edouard, who slalomed his way into the goal mouth and scored from close range. Like clockwork, game after game, CalMac always has a hand in Celtic’s success, sometimes in such minuscule ways that it slips under the radar. However, it always bears mentioning that his play, game in and game out, is a large part of the formula that is Celtic’s ongoing success.

Anyway, on to Saturday. Here we go again, we’re on the road again: Dundee United on Saturday at Tannadice.