South Korea opened their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign with a 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic on June 11 in Guadalajara, Mexico. The Group A match drew 44,985 spectators, with the majority supporting South Korea [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
The Czech Republic took the lead in the 59th minute when Ladislav Krejci headed home from a long throw-in. South Korea responded eight minutes later through Hwang In-Beom, who curled a precise right-footed shot into the corner to level the score. Tomas Soucek nearly restored the Czech lead with a free-kick header in the 77th minute, but it was ruled offside [1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 5, 6, 8].
Substitute Oh Hyeon-gyu scored the winning goal for South Korea in the 80th minute, assisted by Hwang In-Beom. The 74-cap midfielder proved decisive with both a goal and an assist. South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo had emphasized unity and perseverance before the match, saying, "Before the match I gave two messages: not give up until the end and unite as one. Whether on the pitch or not, we need to play as one team" [1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 5, 9, 10, 6, 8].
Son Heung-Min, South Korea’s captain and all-time top scorer with 56 international goals, missed several chances and was substituted off before Oh’s winner. Coach Hong praised Son as "our best player and is also a very stable captain. We believe that Son did his best" [1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8].
South Korea and Mexico both sit atop Group A with three points after their opening matches. South Korea will meet Mexico again in Guadalajara on June 18. The Czech Republic will face South Africa in Atlanta the same day [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8].
Hwang In-Beom, who earned military exemption by winning gold at the 2018 Asian Games, has played for multiple international clubs and remains key to South Korea’s strategy [11, 12, 6]. The next matches on June 18 will be pivotal for Group A standings.
