The "Asian Tigers" and the Czech Republic have never faced each other in World Cup history and are both in Group A
The next match after the opener will feature South Korea and the Czech Republic in Group A at Akron Stadium in Guadalajara today at 10:00 p.m. It promises to be a very close match and is crucial for both teams’ hopes of advancing to the next round.
Without a doubt, the star of the South Korean national team is Son Heung-min, who is currently one of the most valuable players on Major League Soccer (MLS) team Los Angeles FC, along with other players such as Lee Kang-in of Paris Saint-Germain and Hwang Hee-chan of Wolverhampton. Meanwhile, the Czech Republic is represented by West Ham United’s Tomas Soucek and Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrick Schick.
The Asian team is looking to improve on its fourth-place finish in the World Cup it hosted in 2002. They recently defeated Trinidad and Tobago 5-0 on May 30, with Son scoring twice. However, they were also routed 5-0 by Brazil in October of last year and 4-0 by Ivory Coast in March of this year. They are coming off three wins and two losses, with seven goals scored and seven conceded.
On the other hand, the backbone of the Czech Republic’s team is Slavia Prague, which contributed as many as 10 players to the final roster. They qualified for the World Cup the hard way, defeating Ireland on penalty kicks and then Denmark in the playoffs; during the regular season, they won 5 of 8 matches.
Below are the starting lineups for both teams:
SOUTH KOREA: Jo Hyeon-woo; Kim Moon-hwan, Kim Min-jae, Kim Tae-hyeon, Cho Yu-min; Hwang In-beom, Lee Jae-sung; Lee Kang-in, Son Heung-min, Yang Hyun-jun; Hwang Hee-chan. Head Coach: Hong Myung-bo
CZECH REPUBLIC: Matej Kovar; Vladimír Coufal, Ladislav Krejčí, Robin Hranáč, David Jurásek; Tomáš Souček, Michal Sadílek; Pavel Šulc, Lukáš Provod, Adam Hložek; Patrik Schick. Head Coach: Miroslav Koubek
