Oh, Hwang goals see South Korea edge Czechia in thriller.
Match Report:
Substitute Oh Hyeon-Gu gave South Korea a winning start to the World Cup as they came from behind to beat the Czech Republic 2-1.
Oh struck 11 minutes from time after Hwang In-Beom's moment of magic had cancelled out Czech captain Ladislav Krejcí's header in Guadalajara.
South Korea made the brighter start, Son Heung-Min firing over with Lee Han-Beom heading over the bar before Paris St Germain's Lee Kang-In forced a save from Matej Kovár with an effort from outside the box.
The Czechs, playing in their first World Cup since 2006, struggled to carve out any chances and the Koreans ended the first half with a flurry of opportunities.
Son again fired over and curled a shot wide of Kovar's post before the former Tottenham striker was unable to meet a return cross into the box in added time.
Hwang and Lee Jae-Sung were denied by Kovar to start the second half, the goalkeeper also denying Son before the Czechs went ahead with their first real chance - Krejci, who spent last season on loan at Wolves, meeting Vladimír Coufal's long throw unmarked.
The lead lasted just eight minutes, Hwang finally converting a Korean chance as his check back sent Kovar and Robin Hranác past the ball and he was able to find the empty net.
West Ham midfielder Tomás Soucek had a headed effort ruled out for a clear offside and within three minutes, Oh turned in Hwang's low cross via Kovar's hand, although Korea needed a pair of fine saves by Kim Seung-Gyu to wrap up all three points.
Line-ups
South Korea XI: Kim Seung-Gyu, Son, Lee Jae-Sung II, Seung-ho Paik, In-beom Hwang, Min-jae Kim, Kang-in Lee, Han-beom Lee, Tae-seok Lee, Young-woo Seol, Gi-hyuk Lee
Subs: Cho Hyun-Woo, Hwang Hee-Chan, Jin-gyu Kim, Bum-keun Song, Moon-hwan Kim, Jin-seob Park, Dong-gyeong Lee, Hyeon-gyu Oh, Tae-hyeon Kim, Gue-sung Cho, Eom Ji-Sung, Jens Castrop, Hyun-jun Yang, Jun-ho Bae, Wi-je Cho
Czech XI: Jaroslav Zelený, Vladimír Coufal, Schick, Lukas Provod, Soucek, Ladislav Krejčí, Kovar, Robin Hranac, Pavel Sulc, Stepan Chaloupek, Alexandr Sojka
Subs: Darida, Tomas Chory, Tomas Holes, Jindrich Stanek, Michal Sadílek, Jan Kuchta, David Doudera, David Zima, Adam Hlozek, Lukas Hornicek, Mojmír Chytil, David Jurásek, Denis Visinsky, Lukas Cerv, Hugo Sochurek
itz_me_ojei
11
It would have been truly heartbreaking if South Korea had lost this match. They played well but were trailing for most of the game. In the end, they produced an incredible comeback and deservedly won. As an Asian, I’m proud of South Korea’s victory 🇰🇷❤️
itz_me_ojei
10
𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇 𝐊𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐀 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖! 🤩🇰🇷 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐎𝐍 & 𝐂𝐎 𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐂𝐔𝐏 🪂
itz_me_ojei
8
Korea Republic beat European opposition for the third consecutive time at the World Cup to kickstart their 2026 campaign 🇰🇷 2026: Czechia 2-1 2022: Portugal 2-1 2018: Germany 2-0