South Korea rally to beat Czechia 2-1 on World Cup opening day

Second-half goals by Oh Hyeon-gyu and Hwang In-beom steered South Korea to a come-from-behind win over Czechia in a Group A encounter.Hwang In-beom scored a goal and set up another as South Korea rallied to defeat Czechia 2-1 in the second match of the FIFA-world-cup-2026" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="1548" data-entity-type="event">FIFA World Cup 2026 on Thursday night in Zapopan, Mexico.After a lacklustre first half in which both teams were jeered as they left the field, Czechia took the lead in the 59th minute on a header by captain Ladislav Krejci after a long throw-in into the penalty area.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Jimenez and Quinones net as Mexico beat South Africa in World Cup openerlist 2 of 3What happened, and who performed at the World Cup 2026 opening ceremony?list 3 of 3Photos: Mexico City dazzles as 2026 World Cup kicks off in styleend of listSouth Korea equalised in the 67th minute, when Hwang scored after faking a shot with a nifty move to clear two Czech players. He then made the cross from the right flank for Oh Hyeon-gyu’s decisive strike in the 80th minute in a match played in front of hundreds of empty seats at Guadalajara Stadium.Led by star forward Son Heung-min, South Korea controlled possession and outshot the Czechs, who were making their first World Cup appearance since 2006.Oh Hyeon-gyu scored a goal in the 80th minute to seal a late comeback victory for South Korea [Daniel Becerril/Reuters]The South Koreans, ranked 25th by FIFA, had most of the significant scoring chances against the 38th-ranked Czechs but failed to capitalise early.The announced attendance was 44,985 at the 45,664-capacity Guadalajara Stadium. Sections in the middle of the stands had many unoccupied seats, and other empty seats were scattered across the stadium.Earlier on Thursday, Mexico ignited their World Cup party with a dominant 2-0 victory over nine-man South Africa, as the biggest edition of the global footballing showpiece kicked off at the iconic Estadio Azteca.