The second match in Group A in the World Cup takes place at the Estadio Guadalajara in the early hours of Friday morning as South Korea take on Czechia.
South Korea qualified for their 11th consecutive World Cup finals and their 12th overall after topping their World Cup qualifying group.
Legendary ex-defender Myung-Bo Hong guided his team to an unbeaten qualifying campaign (W6-D4-L0), with back-to-back wins over Iraq and Kuwait seeing them eventually finish six points clear of nearest challengers Jordan.
The Taegeuk Warriors managed to qualify from the group stages for only the third time in their history in Qatar last time out – finishing in second position behind Portugal, but ahead of Uruguay on goals scored – but exited in the Round of 16 following a 4-1 defeat to record champions Brazil.
Czechia’s route to the World Cup finals proved to be far more difficult, as they had to go through the playoffs after finishing six points behind group winners Croatia.
Miroslav Koubek’s men came from two goals down in their semi-final clash against the Republic of Ireland and beat them on penalties, before also defeating the Danes on penalties five days later following another 2-2 draw.
This will be only Czechia’s second appearance in the World Cup finals as an independent nation, as they last participated in the 2006 edition in Germany, where they exited in the group stages.
How the bookies view it: South Korea slight favourites
South Korea have been installed as light favourites to make a winning start in Group A, with bet365 pricing the Asians at 13/8 to claim all three points.
Czechia are 15/8 to secure only their second-ever victory at the World Cup finals as an independent nation, whilst the draw is 21/10.
Head to head: First-ever competitive meeting
This Friday will be the first-ever competitive meeting between these two nations.
The pair have previously met in three friendlies, with each nation winning once and the other finishing in a stalemate.
Players to watch: Schick to strike again?
Patrick Schick had another fine personal season this campaign for Bayer Leverkusen, as he scored 22 goals in his 42 appearances this season.
The Czech talisman has also scored 26 goals in 53 caps for his national side – including five goals in qualifying – and he is an appealing 7/4 at bet365 to get on the scoresheet in Guadalajara in the early hours of Friday morning.
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Predicted line-ups:
South Korea midfielder Bae Jun-ho looks to be an injury doubt, whilst Czechia appears to have a fully fit squad.
South Korea: Seung-gyu, Moon-hwan, Min-jae, Han-beom, Young-woo, In-beom, Jae-sung, Tae-seok, Kang-in, Heung-min, Hee-chan
Czechia: Kovar, Holes, Hranac, Krejci, Coufal, Soucek, Darida, Jurasek, Hlozek, Sulc, Schick
Anything else catch the eye?
Whilst co-hosts Mexico are favourites to top Group A, there doesn’t look to be much difference between the sides and it does appear to be an open group.
Given it’s a game neither side will want to lose, I can see it being a fairly tight encounter, with not much to separate the sides.
Czechia drew both of their World Cup playoff ties with the Republic of Ireland and Denmark – and given South Korea drew four of their 10 Asian World Cup qualifiers – another stalemate looks the best bet in Guadalajara in the early hours of Friday morning.
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