Korea Republic goals: Hwang Inbeom (67), Oh Hyeongyu (80) Czechia goal: Krejci (59)
Hwang Inbeom scored one and created the other as Korea Republic came from a goal down to defeat Czechia and start their campaign with victory at Guadalajara Stadium.
Korea had the better of the first half and frequently threatened, but were unable to find a way past Czechia goalkeeper Matej Kovar in the first 45 minutes.
Kovar saved a fierce left-footed strike from Lee Kangin in the 14th minute, before Son Heungmin sent a couple of decent opportunities off target and then couldn’t quite connect with another chance in first-half stoppage time.
Son was denied again 11 minutes into the second period, once more finding Kovar in his way.
Czechia then took the lead against the run of play in the 59th minute, captain Ladislav Krejci soaring through the air to meet a long throw from the right by Vladimir Coufal and thundering a header past a helpless Kim Seunggyu in the Korean goal.
Hwang restored parity with a delicious effort eight minutes later though, cutting inside before dinking home after a sublime ball into his path from Lee Kangin, and Oh Hyeongyu then completed the turnaround when he tucked in Hwang’s low ball in from the right in the 80th minute.
Czechia threw everything they had at finding an equaliser of their own, but the closest they came was when Adam Hlozek forced Kim into a phenomenal stop in the 82nd minute, leaving Korea to celebrate a third consecutive World Cup win over European opposition, following victories over Portugal in 2022 (2-1) and Germany in 2018 (2-0).
Ladislav Krejci's header for Czechia was the country's first World Cup goal in almost 20 years to the day. Their previous effort came when Tomas Rosicky stabbed home the third in a 3-0 group stage win against USA on 12 June 2006.
Sources: FIFA Official
