South Korea Stuns Czechia With Thrilling 21-Minute World Cup Turnaround
South Korea moved to second in Group A of the FIFA World Cup after coming from behind to defeat Czechia 2-1 at the Guadalajara Stadium.
Goals from Hwang In-beom and Oh Hyeon-gyu sealed a comeback victory for the Korea Republic in their Group A opener. Czechia was the first to strike, taking the lead against the run of play in the 59th minute. Captain Ladislav Krejčí soared through the air to meet a long throw-in from the right by Vladimír Coufal, thundering a header past a helpless Kim Seung-gyu in the Korean goal.
However, Hwang restored parity just eight minutes later with a brilliant effort. After a sublime ball into his path from Lee Kang-in, Hwang cut inside and dinked the ball home. Oh Hyeon-gyu then completed the turnaround in the 80th minute, tucking in a low cross from Hwang from the right flank.
Czechia threw everything forward in search of an equalizer, but the closest they came was in the 82nd minute when Adam Hložek forced Kim into a phenomenal stop. The victory left South Korea to celebrate a third consecutive World Cup win over European opposition, following triumphs over Portugal in 2022 (2-1) and Germany in 2018 (2-0).
Despite the defeat, Krejčí’s header made history as Czechia’s first World Cup goal in almost exactly 20 years. Their last goal on the world stage was scored by Tomáš Rosický, who stabbed home the third in a 3-0 group-stage win against the USA on June 12, 2006.
The victory moves the Koreans into second place in Group A with three points. Mexico sits at the top of the standings after defeating a struggling South Africa side 2-0 at the Estadio Azteca on Thursday.
Up next, Czechia faces a must-win clash against South Africa next week, Thursday in Atlanta, while Mexico will host South Korea in Mexico City on 19 June.
