South Korea won this Group A opener in Guadalajara the hard way: a goal down with eleven minutes of normal time remaining, they finished with three points courtesy of a substitute who had barely warmed up. Hwang In-beom levelled in the 67th minute and then turned provider eleven minutes later, feeding Hyeon-gyu Oh to score the winner at the Estadio Akron. Czech Republic, who had led through Ladislav Krejčí's 59th-minute goal, left with nothing.
For the majority of the match the Czechs had been compact and effective. They allowed South Korea 62 per cent of the ball but restricted Myung-Bo Hong's side to efforts from distance, and Matěj Kovář made four saves to hold his shape. It was against the run of the statistics, though not the run of the game, when Krejčí drove forward from the back three and converted Vladimir Coufal's assist to make it 0-1. Czech Republic had an expected goals total of 0.84 by full time; they made the most of what they created.
South Korea's response was the more impressive for how quickly it came. Kang-in Lee found Hwang In-beom eight minutes after going behind and the midfielder pulled the sides level. Both Lee Tae-seok and Son Heung-min had been withdrawn at 69 minutes, two substitutions that shifted the balance of the game before the winning goal arrived. Oh Hyeon-gyu, on for less than half an hour, received Hwang's second assist of the night and scored the winner in the 80th minute. He played 28 minutes in total.
The result moves South Korea onto three points in Group A. Mexico, who had already beaten South Africa earlier in the group, remain the only side with a first-match win to their name, and the Koreans join them on three points with a superior goal difference over the rest. Czech Republic, meanwhile, sit on zero alongside South Africa and face a difficult route to the knockout stage.
Hwang In-beom was the standout performer on the pitch. A goal and an assist in a 25-minute window, with South Korea needing both contributions to win, is about as direct an influence on a result as a midfielder can have. The statistics around him were less dramatic but equally telling: South Korea passed at 87 per cent accuracy across 542 attempts, double Czech Republic's volume, and their expected goals of 2.00 comfortably backed up the margin of victory.
Krejčí's goal was the lone Czech consolation and the one moment where their defensive setup paid an offensive dividend. Schick, Provod and Šulc all departed in the 64th minute in a triple change that shifted Czech Republic's shape but could not prevent further damage. Hložek, Chorý and Sadílek came on but the three of them combined for no goals and no assists in their 33 minutes.
For South Korea, Kang-in Lee provided the creative spark throughout. His assist for the equaliser was his most visible contribution but he completed the full 97 minutes and was central to the passing moves that kept Czech Republic penned back in the second half. Kim Min-jae was commanding at the back and the team conceded just once from eight Czech shots, four of which were on target.
Gi-Hyuk Lee picked up the only yellow card of the match. There were no red cards on either side despite Czech Republic committing 16 fouls to South Korea's nine.
South Korea will take confidence from the manner of the recovery. They were outplayed in stretches, went behind against a disciplined defensive block, and still found the winning goal from the bench with ten minutes to spare. Czech Republic will need to regroup quickly, knowing their next match offers no room for further slips.