Celtic forward Hyeongyu Oh gets the call he was waiting on from Jurgen Klinsmann

By John McGinley

March 14, 2023

Celtic striker Hyeongyu Oh has been called up to the South Korean national team for matches against Colombia and Uruguay later this month.

The 21-year-old forward will be heading back to his homeland for matches in Ulsan and Seoul in the friendly doubleheader, following up on the progress he made to break into the national team set-up late last year.

Oh has one cap to his name already and it appears new national team boss Jurgen Klinsmann sees the Celtic star as part of his plans moving forward. The South Korean has been involved in Ange Postecoglou’s first team since arriving in Glasgow, featuring regularly off the bench and scoring two goals.

Oh told reporters at the weekend before the call up was announced that it was his dream to continue to be involved with his country, stating [Sunday Post 14/03 print edition]: “The national team coach has not been in touch yet. All players dream of playing for their national team, and if I were to get the chance to be involved again, I would be very grateful and give everything I have.

“I played at different representative youth levels and last year I was given my debut for the senior side. That was the realisation of one of my childhood dreams and, since then, my passion for my country has grown ever bigger.”

Oh won’t be the only Celtic player to be heading off round the world this month with Aaron Mooy confirmed to be part of Australia’s plans as part of a Socceroos homecoming and Japan also in action.

Obviously, it’s not ideal for these long trips to take place at such a crucial time of the season but it’s just something that has to be dealt with. We know that Ange Postecoglou will have been planning for this for quite some time and he has the ability to rotate the team if there’s any tiredness.

Hopefully Oh gets the chance to earn another cap on his travels, giving him even more confidence and motivation to progress as a player over the coming months.

In other news, Celtic 2023/24 dates confirmed: Winter break, Champions League and potential cup finals.