South Korea bounced back from a goal down to beat Czech Republic 2-1 and making a winning start to their World Cup Group A campaign, with a few local Mexican supporters cheering them at Guadalajara on ​Thursday.
South Korea joined Mexico at the top of Group A with three points. Earlier, co-hosts Mexico had opened their campaign with a 2-0 win over nine-man South Africa in Mexico City.
The Czech Republic took the lead through Ladislav Krejci, who scored with a powerful header. However, South Korea responded quickly.
Hwang In-beom scored the equaliser before later setting up substitute Oh Hyeon-gyu for the winning goal.
Hyeon-gyu substituted captain Son Heung-min, who had a frustrating evening in front of goal. Son created several chances and had five attempts in the first half alone but could not find the net. He remains two goals short of South Korea’s all-time scoring record, staying on 56 international goals.
South Korea will now face Mexico on June 18, while the Czech Republic take on South Africa in Atlanta on the same day.
Although there were some empty seats in the stadium, most of the 44,985 fans present were cheering for South Korea.
The match was a battle of contrasting styles. South Korea relied on their technical ability and sharp passing, while the Czech Republic used their physical strength and direct approach.
The first half ended goalless, but the game came alive after the break. Krejci gave the Czechs the lead in the 59th minute, to head home from a long throw-in by Vladimir Coufal.
South Korea equalised eight minutes later with a well-worked move. Lee Kang-in played an excellent through ball to Hwang In-beom, who cut inside and curled a low shot into the far corner.
The Czech Republic thought they had scored again through Tomas Soucek, who headed in from a free-kick. However, the goal was ruled out for offside, and the Europeans were left disappointed as their first World Cup match in 20 years ended in defeat.
