Celtic duo Hyeongyu Oh and Hyunjun Yang have been dropped from the South Korea international squad this week.
Interim national boss, Hwang Sun-hong, has shared his South Korea squad to face Thailand in the upcoming World Cup qualifier double-header later this month and both Celtic players are missing. [Sports Khan]
Yang and Oh were regular selectees under former national boss, Jurgen Klinsmann. But now that the legendary German striker is out of the picture, so are the Celtic pair although hope does remain for one of them.
Speaking about the upcoming u23 squad for the West Asian Football Confederation (WAFF) U-23 Championship in Saudi Arabia on March 11, Sun-hong delivered a ray of hope for Hyunjun Yang.
Sun-hong said [Nocut News], “Lee Kang-eun is not available for the qualifiers. We have to discuss with Paris Saint-Germain again. It’s hard because we don’t have a choice.
“Bae Jun-ho has agreed to participate in the qualifiers, but the team may change their mind. He will join us in March and prepare for the qualifiers.
“The same goes for Hyunjun Yang and Kim Ji-soo. They have asked their clubs for permission.
“However, there are variables as to whether or not they will be selected for the main event.” [translated by Deep L]
To be honest, the exclusion of the pair from the A team is not really a surprise. Oh has been missing from the Celtic first team since he returned from the Asia Cup.
And despite being highly rated by Klinsmann, Yang has never really found the consistency at Parkhead to warrant another international call-up.
The 22-year-old winger has hit a small purple patch of form recently so maybe that is why the door isn’t completely closed for him.
But as for Oh, unless he can force his way into Brendan Rodgers‘ plans, his international career will stay stalled.
In other news, ‘Clearly’… Brendan Rodgers talks up Celtic midfielder and shares ‘great’ injury update
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