South Korea came back from 0-1 down to beat Czech Republic 2-1 in the 2026 World Cup second game.
The Taegeuk Warriors somehow fell behind against the Czechs despite controlling most of the match and getting far better goalscoring opportunities.
In the end, the Asians edged the Europeans in a number of different statistics. They had more possession (62% – 38%), shots (15 – 7), big chances (4 – 1), expected goals (1.84 – 0.81) and touches in the opposition box.
It was a fully deserved win that just took a little more than it should to materialise. Let’s dig in.
How did South Korea vs Czech Republic unfold?
South Korea’s shy start and second half switch
The second half was quite fun, but the exact opposite of the first half. Both teams abused inaccurate long balls from one goalkeeper to the other in a shy and conservative start to the affair.
The Koreans still had more initiative, but chose a more direct approach in order to reduce risks. There was quite a difference between their attacking numbers from the first to the final 45 minutes.
| South Korea stats | 1st half | 2nd half |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | 55% | 69% |
| Shots (on target) | 8 (1) | 7 (5) |
| Expected goals | 0.5 | 1.3 |
| Big chances | 0 | 4 |
| Touches in the opposition box | 8 | 15 |
And everything had to do with their change in approach. Manager Hong Myung-Bo realised how easily his side infiltrated Czech Republic’s defence and went for a more patient and dominant display in the second half.
They attempted fewer shots, but created a lot more in terms of quality. And even managed to find their way into the box with quick, short passes – rather than going long as they did for most of the first half. The back-and-forth, punch for punch kind of contest also favoured the Czech’s physical style.
Czech Republic’s only weapon
Saying that South Korea beat Czech Republic in their own game could be a stretch since they conceded from a throw-in and saw an indirect free-kick goal disallowed. But they managed to render the Czechs’ set pieces nearly useless.
Not only that, but the Koreans themselves had plenty of opportunities from dead-ball situations and created dangerous chances from them.
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In the end, South Korea won 64% of the aerial duels in the match, as opposed to Czech Republic’s 36%. They just happened to lose one of the more important ones, sitting completely still while Ladislav Krejci charged from behind to head the ball into the back of the net.
The Wolverhampton Wanderers man has now scored in three consecutive official games for Czech Republic. All of them from set pieces – including two from throw-ins, against Denmark in the Uefa playoffs and today against Korea.
Other than looking for crosses and set pieces, the Europeans had nothing going forward. Five of their seven attempts were either headers or in set-piece scenarios.
Still, they can be much better at this game and will look to improve in this specific area, which is their strength, rather than trying to develop a more sophisticated attacking approach.
How Korea manipulated the Czechs’ man-marking to win
One common theme throughout the whole game was how much space South Korea managed to find between or behind Czech Republic’s lines.
A very mobile front-three of Son Heung-Min, Lee Kang-In and Lee Jae-Sung is the perfect antidote for man-marking with long chases.
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Whenever the Czechs decided to jump forward and press, going from a zonal-oriented approach sitting deep to a man-to-man press, there was always one player who was caught between two Koreans. It was totally uncoordinated and left free opponents in central areas.
It also manifested whenever one of the three Korean forwards dragged Czech centre-backs near the midfield while someone else infiltrated the space.
And those two situations happened in both goals. For Hwang In-Beom’s equaliser, Vladimir Coufal was tied with Lee Tae-Sok out wide. Stepan Chaloupek was defending in space and precisely when he decided to step inside and find a man to mark, Hwang identified the huge gap between him and Coufal and made them pay. Beautiful move before firing the shot – as well as Lee’s vision and pass.
For Oh Hyeon-Gyu’s winner, Lee noticed how close Krejci was to him and dropped deeper and deeper. This move took him away not only from the central defender of the back-three but also the left wing-back, creating yet another huge gap in their defence.
And it was Hwang once again who identified this space and served a perfect cross for Oh to put the Tigers 2-1 up and win the game.
In theory, Czech Republic’s goal meant that they had no incentive to go forward, press or chase attackers whenever they dropped deep. It was the perfect opportunity to stay in a deep, compact and zone-oriented 5-4-1/5-3-2 and defend their box.
Instead, they maintained the man-marking which was actually their demise and allowed South Korea to score two goals and win the game.
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