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Day Two: A Drag-Back in Guadalajara — South Korea's Comeback, and Canada's Opening Night

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Day two is a lesson in how this World Cup’s clock works. South Korea and Czechia finished their Group A opener under Thursday-night floodlights in Guadalajara — by the final whistle it was already Friday in UTC terms, which is why the match sits on June 12 in the schedule. The day closes on the other side of the continent, where Canada play their first men’s World Cup match on home soil. One comeback is in the books; one party is pending.

South Korea 2–1 Czechia: patience, then magic

For 59 minutes, this one followed a script Czechia would have signed for. Hong Myung-bo’s South Korea had the ball (62% of it), the territory and the chances: Matěj Kovář pushed away Lee Kang-in’s early drive, Son Heung-min fired over, then wide, then couldn’t quite connect in first-half stoppage time. Both teams were jeered off at the break by an impatient Guadalajara crowd. Czechia — at their first World Cup since 2006 — offered almost nothing in open play.

Then they led anyway. Vladimír Coufal launched one of his trademark long throws, captain Ladislav Krejčí arrived at the near post like a freight train, and his header beat Kim Seung-gyu for Czechia’s first shot on target. The records came in pairs: Czechia’s first World Cup goal in almost exactly twenty years — Tomáš Rosický against the USA on 12 June 2006 — and the first World Cup goal scored directly from a throw-in since Denmark’s Zanka in 2018. For a side that scored half its qualifying goals from set pieces, it was the most on-brand lead imaginable.

It lasted eight minutes. Lee Kang-in — who completed all 37 of his passes — scooped a pass into the left channel, and Hwang In-beom produced the moment of the tournament so far: a drag-back that sat down both Kovář and Robin Hranáč, followed by a clipped finish into the far corner. Hwang finished the night with a goal and an assist, becoming only the third South Korean to manage both in a World Cup match — after Choi Soon-ho in 1986 and one Hong Myung-bo in 1994. The current head coach presumably approved.

A winner at 38 degrees

Son had been withdrawn on 69 minutes for Oh Hyeon-gyu, a striker who nearly didn’t play at all. “My body temperature today had gone up to 38 degrees because I wasn’t feeling well,” Oh said afterwards. “I wondered if I could even play.” He played. On 80 minutes he turned Hwang’s low cross inside the post — via Kovář’s glove — to complete the turnaround, becoming the eighth South Korean to score on his World Cup debut and the fifth to do it off the bench.

Czechia had their own moments in the chaos: Tomáš Souček headed in from a Michal Sadílek free kick on 77, only for the offside flag to cut the celebration short, and Kim Seung-gyu had to produce sprawling saves from Adam Hložek and Sadílek late on. Coach Miroslav Koubek was honest about the balance of play — “probably the better team won” — while pointing to the fine margins: “We played very well, it could have been a draw and we could have won as well.”

The underlying numbers back the eye test: 15 shots to 7 and roughly 1.8 expected goals to 0.8 for Korea, who have now beaten European opposition at three consecutive World Cups (Germany 2018, Portugal 2022, Czechia 2026). At their 11th straight finals — the most of any Asian nation — the Taegeuk Warriors look like awkward opponents for anyone in Group A. Son, still chasing the Korean record for World Cup goals, had six attempts and one on target; the striking thing was that it didn’t matter. One sour note: an announced 44,985 at the 45,664-capacity stadium, yet whole premium sections sat visibly empty.

Canada vs Bosnia & Herzegovina: Toronto waits

Kick-off at BMO Field is 3 PM Eastern. Canada have never played a men’s World Cup match on home soil — this section will be completed once the final whistle goes in Toronto.

Group A, after one round

Mexico (3 points, +2) lead South Korea (3, +1) on goal difference, with Czechia and South Africa pointless at the bottom. The two winners meet in Zapopan next Thursday night in what already looks like the group decider, while Czechia–South Africa in Atlanta that afternoon is, for both, closer to a must-win than anyone wanted by matchday two. Remember, though: under the 48-team format even third place can be enough — the tiebreaker maths is in our group-stage explainer.

The standings live on the groups page, and we’ll be tracking every match as it happens — follow the scores here.

Sources

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