South Korea fights back to beat Czechia 2-1 in World Cup opener
Collected Photo
South Korea dominated the first half against Czechia but could not convert their chances. Czechia then took the lead against the run of play in the 59th minute, but Korea mounted a superb late comeback to start their World Cup campaign with a 2-1 victory on opening day.
The hero of South Korea’s victory was “super sub” Oh Hyeon-gyu. Following an extraordinary equalising goal by Hwang In-beom in the 67th minute, Oh became the match-winner with a goal in the 80th minute.
Ranked 25th in the world, Korea began the match cautiously, observing their opponents, Czechia, for the first ten minutes. During this period, the Czechs, ranked 15 places lower, attempted to create opportunities. After settling in, the Koreans took control of the match from the 10th minute.
They sought to find a breakthrough via planned attacks, with the primary offensive focus being Son Heung-min. The Korean captain saw several promising efforts narrowly miss the target. Son, participating in his third World Cup, sparked fear in the Czechia defence three or four times during the first half.
In the 12th minute, Lee Kang-in provided an exceptional ball to Lee Jae-sung. After controlling the ball and bypassing his marker, Lee Jae-sung passed it to Son. However, the shot from the captain was blocked for a corner by defender Robin Hranáč, saving Czechia.
In the 37th minute, Son was unable to convert another significant opportunity. Kim Min-jae dispossessed Czechia midfielder Jaroslav Zelený, initiated an attack down the right, and delivered the ball to Son.
Son entered the box from the left and struck a powerful shot, but it went wide of the near post, leaving South Korea to head into the interval in frustration.
Korea continued their dominance after the break. However, in the 59th minute, Czechia took the lead by exploiting their physical height. A long throw-in from Vladimír Coufal was met by a precise header from captain Ladislav Krejčí, which beat Korean goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu.
Nevertheless, Hwang In-beom brought Korea back into the match with a brilliant goal in the 67th minute. The goal resulted from a planned attack; catching a teammate’s through ball, In-beom deceived two markers and the Czechia keeper before coolly placing the ball into the far post with his right foot.
In the 77th minute, Czechia put the ball in the net from a set-piece. Sadílek’s header from a Coufal free-kick found the net, but the goal was disallowed for offside. Three minutes after the disallowed Czech goal, Korea secured their much-anticipated lead. Attacking down the right, Hwang In-beom delivered a low cross into the box. Oh Hyeon-gyu, who had been substituted on 11 minutes earlier, beat Czechia keeper Kovář with a clinical first-time strike to put South Korea ahead.
Late in stoppage time, goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu emerged as the saviour to play a pivotal role in Korea’s win. Receiving the ball from a structured attack, Hložek entered the box and passed to Chytil. The forward then played a back-pass towards the penalty spot. Kim saved Korea by diving to one side of the goalline to block a placed shot from the unmarked Sadílek.
South Korea XI (3-4-3): Kim Seung-gyu, Lee Gi-hyuk, Kim Min-jae, Lee Han-beom, Lee Tae-seok, Paik Seung-ho, Hwang In-beom, Seol Young-woo, Lee Jae-sung, Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in.
Czechia XI (3-4-3): Matěj Kovář, Ladislav Krejčí, Robin Hranáč, Štěpán Chaloupek, Jaroslav Zelený, Alexandr Sojka, Tomáš Souček, Vladimír Coufal, Lukáš Provod, Patrik Schick, Pavel Šulc.
