FIFA WC 2026: Korea roar back from a goal down to beat Czechia 2-1 in Group A opener

Zapopan: South Korea came from a goal down to defeat Czechia and start their FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign with a 2-1 win at Guadalajara Stadium on Friday (IST).

Strikes from Hwang In-beom and Oh Hyeon-gyu sealed a perfect start for the East Asian side who had found themselves trailing to Ladislav Krejci’s goal despite dominating the game.

Kovar saved a fierce left-footed strike from Lee Kang-in in the 14th minute before Son Heungmin, making his fourth FIFA World Cup appearance, 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, FIFA reports.

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 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).

“It was our first game and a very difficult one. The win itself makes me happy, but what’s even more positive is that our boys won by not giving up. I knew that we were more than capable of winning, so at 1-a1 I told the boys to keep playing the way we’ve been playing. Now, Mexico is another important match. We will spend the next week to prepare properly,” said South Korea Hong Myungbo.

IANS