South Korea vs Czechia

This is the second match of the World Cup, kicking off in Guadalajara on the evening of 11 June after the Mexico-South Africa opener. The two sides have played exactly once at senior level — a June 2016 friendly in Prague that South Korea won 2-1 ahead of Euro 2016 — meaning the H2H is essentially noise. Whatever happens here will largely be a function of present-day form, tactical match-ups, and one critical environmental factor: altitude. Guadalajara sits at 1,566 metres, and South Korea has been training at the higher Salt Lake City (1,288 m) since 18 May to acclimatise. Czechia has not played a competitive match at significant altitude in over a decade, and Miroslav Koubek has been openly worried about what 90 minutes of running at that elevation will do to the legs of his older spine.

Tactically, the matchup is fascinating. Korea will play their 4-2-3-1 with Son drifting from the left half-space, Lee Kang-in centrally, and Hwang Hee-chan attacking the right. Czechia will likely shift between a 4-2-3-1 in possession and a back-five out of possession, with Coufal and Jurásek as the wing-backs and Souček arriving late into the box. The key tactical worry for Korea is the aerial mismatch — Souček, Schick, Krejčí and Holeš are all 1.90m+, and Korea’s central defenders (Kim Min-jae aside) are average-sized. Czechia scored seven set-piece goals in their playoff run alone. The key tactical worry for Czechia is Korea’s first-step quickness on the counter; Son in space against a recovering Czech back line is the single most dangerous situation either team will face.

The headline player battle is Kim Min-jae vs Patrik Schick, two Bundesliga A-list talents who have never previously met at this level. Schick has been one of Europe’s most efficient penalty-area finishers when fit; Kim is one of the elite defensive markers in the game (one of the few Premier League/Bundesliga centre-backs Erling Haaland has admitted to finding difficult). The sub-plot is Hwang Hee-chan and Ladislav Krejčí — both Wolves players, with Krejčí likely being asked to mark his own club teammate. Korean tabloids have been milking that for the last month.

Stakes are unusually high for an opener: both sides expect a tough Mexico match later, so getting a result here is critical to staying alive in the group. A Czechia win could plausibly seal a Round of 16 spot before they play South Africa, and a Korea loss would put their entire group on a knife edge. The likely outcome is a 1-1 draw — Czechia scoring from a set-piece, Korea equalising through a Son moment in the second half. Both managers, privately, would happily shake hands on that result given the schedule ahead.