South Korea secured a brilliant opening World Cup win against Czechia after a frantic second half saw them come from behind to take all three points late on.
Feyenoord’s Hwang In-beom and Besiktas striker Oh Hyeon-gyu completed the comeback in Guadalajara, after Ladislav Krejci had opened the scoring.
The result sees South Korea go second in Group A behind Mexico, after the co-hosts sealed a 2-0 win over South Africa in the tournament opener earlier in the day.
After a lackluster first half in which both teams were jeered as they left the field, the Czech Republic took the lead in the 59th minute from a header by captain Krejci after a long throw-in into the penalty area.
South Korea equalized in the 67th minute, when Hwang scored after faking a shot with a nifty move to clear two Czech players.
He then made the cross from the right flank for Hyeon-gyu’s decisive strike in the 80th minute in a match played in front of hundreds of empty seats at Guadalajara Stadium.
Oh Hyeon-gu (right) scores the late winner for South Korea in their World Cup opener
A few minutes earlier, Hwang In-beom had leveled the scores against Czechia in Guadalajara
Let by star forward Son Heung-min, South Korea controlled possession and outshot the Czechs, who were making their first World Cup appearance since 2006.
The Koreans, ranked 25th by FIFA, had most of the significant scoring chances against the 38th-ranked Czechs but failed to capitalize early.
Son was looking to become South Korea’s top goal scorer at the World Cup and the Asian player with the most goals in the tournament. The 33-year-old former Tottenham star, who now plays for Los Angeles FC of Major League Soccer, entered Thursday having scored three goals over three prior World Cups.
Appearing in his fourth World Cup, Son had a couple of good opportunities to add to his tally but missed wide in the first half and had a close-range shot saved in the second.
South Korea’s jubilant fans react after watching their team score a second World Cup goal
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Ladislav Krejci opened the scoring for Czechia after half-time
The Czech Republic thought they had retaken the lead with another set piece in the 77th, but Tomas Soucek was ruled offside after his header.
The announced attendance was 44,985 at the 45,664-capacity Guadalajara Stadium, a crowd that included FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Sections in the middle of the stands had many unoccupied seats and there were other empty seats scattered across the stadium.
South Korea is making its 11th straight World Cup appearance and 12th overall, the most of any Asian country. Its best result was a fourth-place finish at the tournament it co-hosted with Japan in 2002. Since then, the South Koreans have never gone beyond the round of 16.
