Celtic star Daizen Maeda has urged his Japanese teammates to summon the spirit of the World Cup to avoid the ignominy of getting dumped out of the Asian Cup in the first round.

Maeda has only featured for 16 minutes in Japan's two games in the tournament and they are struggling to qualify even for the second round after a shock defeat to Iraq.

They now must beat Indonesia in their last group game to clinch qualification.

However, Maeda insists they shouldn't panic and pointed out they also lost their second game at the 2022 World Cup, also in Qatar, to Costa Rica, before recovering to produce a famous defeat of Spain to qualify.

Maeda then scored in the Round of 16 against Croatia, only for Japan to lose on penalties.

And the Hoops ace is convinced he can make an impression if picked by manager Hajime Moriyasu.

Maeda said: "For me personally, it is important to make an impact in this tournament because I have had to pull out on international duties a couple of times due to injury.

"So I came into the Asian Cup desperate to show what I can do.

"The worst thing for me was coming on against Iraq when we were losing and missing a chance to equalise. I'm sorry I couldn't score because I was slow going for the header.

"If selected for the next game, I want to create chances for my colleagues. That's what I try to do at Celtic.

"My strength is my speed. I hope I can make the most of that,

"We know we have to win the final game in the group, but I am not worried because we also lost the second game at the World Cup and still qualified.

"I think that kind of mindset is Japan's strength, so we just have to do our best in our next game."