South Korea and Czechia played out a gripping encounter in the second fixture of Group A at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. For much of the evening, the Taeguk Warriors looked the better side, appearing sharper, quicker in transition and far more decisive in the final third than their European counterparts.

Despite South Korea's early control, the opening goal arrived against the run of play. Demonstrating their physical threat from set-pieces, Czechia weaponised a long throw-in that caused havoc in the penalty box, allowing Ladislav Krejčí to rise highest and power a header home to open the scoring.

The Asian giants responded with admirable composure, restoring parity shortly after. A slick, fluid passing sequence unlocked the Czech midfield and found Hwang In-beom on the edge of the area. Showing immense coolness under pressure, the midfielder sat his marker down with a clever feint before sliding a precise effort that agonisingly, but cleanly, crossed the goal line.

The match briefly looked set to mirror its opening stages when Czechia immediately found the net again from another long throw-in. However, the celebrations were cut short by the Video Assistant Referee, who correctly disallowed the goal for an obvious offside.

Sensing their opponent's defensive vulnerability, South Korea capitalised on the momentum shift just three minutes later to score what proved to be the match-winner. A devastating low cross from the right flank bypassed the Czech backline, allowing Beşiktaş forward Oh Hyeon-gyu to ghost in at the back post and fire home to seal a hard-fought 2-1 victory.

This encounter had been widely viewed as a pivotal match in the battle for a place in the knockout stages, particularly with co-hosts Mexico heavily fancied to claim one of the progression spots. Following the opening round of fixtures, South Africa sit bottom of Group A, while Mexico and South Korea occupy the top two spots.

The stakes will be incredibly high in the second round of group games. Czechia will look to ignite their campaign against a depleted South Africa side on 18 June (18:00 CET), before the tournament co-hosts Mexico square off against South Korea in a mouth-watering top-of-the-table clash on 19 June (03:00 CET).

World Cup 2026

South Korea - Czech Republic 2:1 (0:0)
Goals: Krejčí L. II., 59 (0:1); Hwang In-beom, 67 (1:1); Oh Hyun-Gyu, 80 (2:1)

South Korea: Kim Seunggyu; Seol Young-Woo; Han-beom Lee; Lee Ki-hyuk; Lee Tae-Seok (Eom Ji-sung, 69); Kim Min-jae; Paik Seung-ho (Park Jin-seob, 84); Hwang In-beom (Kim Jin-gyu, 84); Son Heungmin (Oh Hyun-Gyu, 69); Lee Jae-sung (Hwang Hee-chan, 62); Lee Kang-in
Substitution: Hwang Hee-chan (from 62); Eom Ji-sung (from 69); Oh Hyun-Gyu (from 69); Park Jin-seob (from 84); Kim Jin-gyu (from 84)
Bench: Song Bum-keun; Jo Hyeon-woo; Kim Moon-hwan; Kim Tae-hyeon; Cho Wi-je; Castrop; Yang Hyun-jun; Lee Dong-Gyeong; Bae Joon-Ho; Cho Gue-sung
Yellow Cards: Lee Ki-hyuk 96

Czech Republic: Kovar M.; Coufal; Hranáč; Chaloupek; Zeleny; Krejčí L. II.; Šulc P. (Hložek, 64); Provod (Sadilek M., 64); Soucek; Sojka (Chytil, 85); Schick (Červ L., 64)
Substitution: Sadilek M. (from 64); Červ L. (from 64); Hložek (from 64); Chytil (from 85)
Bench: Stanek; Hornicek; Jurasek D.; Zima D.; Holeš; Douděra; Sochůrek; Darida; Visinsky; Kuchta J.; Chorý