Oh Hyun-gyu's winner completes four-year journey: 'I was embarrassed without a number — I told myself to come back proud'

Oh Hyun-gyu, 25, who attended the 2022 World Cup as a standby player without a squad number, scored a dramatic winner four years later to lead South Korea to victory at the 2026 North America World Cup.

The Besiktas striker scored in the 80th minute of South Korea's Group A opener against Czech Republic at Guadalajara Stadium in Jalisco, Mexico, on Friday, completing a 2-1 comeback win.

Speaking to broadcasters after the match, Oh struggled to hold back tears. "I can't put this feeling into words," he said, before revealing he had nearly not played at all. "Honestly, I was in really bad shape before the game today. My fever climbed to 38 degrees Celsius and I kept wondering whether I'd even be able to play."

He added that simply taking the field at a World Cup was already more than enough. "Just getting to play at the World Cup is something I'm deeply grateful for," he said. "The manager gave me the chance, I scored and we won — as a striker, I couldn't ask for more."

Friday's heroics brought back memories of a painful chapter from the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Oh traveled to that tournament as the youngest member of the squad — a standby player without a squad number, brought along as cover in case captain Son Heung-min, who had suffered a fracture around his eye socket, was unable to recover in time.

Son ultimately took the field in the group stage opener wearing a protective face mask, and Oh never got his chance to play.

In a 2022 appearance on the tvN variety program "You Quiz on the Block," Oh shared a diary entry he had written during that tournament. "Today, all the players put on their uniforms and took a team photo," he wrote. "But my uniform had no number on the back. Honestly, I felt embarrassed and upset."

Yet he pushed himself forward in the same entry. "I just need to steel myself, spend the next four years preparing, and come back with a number on my back and my head held high," he wrote. "You can do it, Hyun-gyu. This is just the beginning."

That resolve became reality. Oh has grown into a key attacking weapon for the national team, and under manager Hong Myung-bo he is now regarded as the first-choice striker — a far cry from the unnamed reserve he was in Qatar.

His club form has reinforced that standing. Oh left Belgian side KRC Genk in 2024 to join Turkish powerhouse Besiktas, where he recorded six goals and one assist in league play and finished the season with eight goals and two assists across all competitions.

French football outlet Foot Mercato took notice, running a piece headlined "Oh Hyun-gyu, the Korean UFO shaking up Turkey." "Oh Hyun-gyu is causing a sensation in the Turkish league," the outlet wrote. "Stuttgart must be regretting letting him go."