Kyogo Furuhashi injury truth emerges as Birmingham City struggles continue | OneFootball

The Japanese striker was a notable absentee from City's squad in their FA Cup loss to Leeds United

Birmingham City exited the FA Cup on Sunday at the fourth round stage in the cruelest fashion possible - losing a penalty shootout on home soil.

Blues battled doggedly against a Leeds United side that wasn't completely overhauled from their regular Premier League starting 11, and took the contest into extra time thanks to Patrick Roberts' late deflected effort in normal time.

When it came to the spot kicks though, City faltered, with Tommy Doyle's effort saved by Lucas Perri in-between the sticks for Leeds, before the aforementioned Roberts blazed his over, leaving Sean Longstaff to dispatch the winning penalty for Leeds to see them progress into the last 16.

Birmingham manager Chris Davies went with a strong starting 11, but there were two notable unexpected absences from the matchday squad - Japanese duo Tomoki Iwata and Kyogo Furuhashi.

Kyogo Furuhashi injury confirmed by Birmingham City manager Chris Davies

Iwata has been a regular starter for Birmingham in the Championship this season, splitting his time between his natural midfield role and filling in at right-back, Kyogo hasn't been as fortunate when it comes to game-time.

Expectations were high based on the striker's past form for Celtic, so much so that a pretty forgettable half-season stint with Stade Rennais was left in the past when he made the move to St. Andrew's, in a fee that could reach £10 million.

However, anyone who expected the 31-year-old to tear the Championship apart was greatly mistaken - it took the forward 25 league outings to score his first goal against a depleted Sheffield Wednesday defence, but in the four matches that followed, he's featured in just nine minutes, with the last three league contests Birmingham have been in seeing him rooted to the bench.

And it has appeared that Kyogo, as well as Iwata, have both suffered injury issues, with Davies claiming post-Leeds, as per BirminghamLive: “Both injury issues but not big ones.

"I’m pretty sure they are both minor ones.”

Kyogo Furuhashi setback is latest installment of frustrating Birmingham City chapter

There was a distinct lack of actual detail regarding both injury setbacks for the Japanese duo, but for Kyogo especially, it's an unneeded setback at a bad time.

Given he scored in Birmingham's round three clash with Cambridge United, Kyogo may have been angling for significant minutes against Leeds, which would've given him a potential platform to give Davies something to think about when it comes to his Championship squad selections.

But with the undisclosed injury issue creeping in, Kyogo wasn't afforded that opportunity, and it's the latest frustration in what has been a season that has under-delivered so far for the experienced striker.

Could Kyogo return soon and bring something to the table to push Birmingham into the play-offs? Potentially, but given he wasn't getting any game-time prior to missing the clash with Leeds, it's hard to see it happening, as his hopes of representing Japan at the FIFA World Cup this summer potentially fade even further away.