PREVIEW: South Korea kick start World Cup campaign against Czechia | OneFootball

South Korea head to their opening match against Czechia in Guadalajara with dreams of reaching the heights of their famous fourth place World Cup finish in 2002, aiming to make it out of the group stage for only the third time.

This will be the nations 11th successive World Cup appearance and the fourth for captain and leader Son Hueng-Min who could become the countries all time leading World Cup goal-scorer this summer.

South Korea face Czechia in a group that also contains hosts Mexico and South Africa both of whom harbour their own ambitions of World Cup success making this one of the most tightly contested groups at this years tournament.

A far cry from their successes as Czechoslovakia, Czechia are competing in just their second World Cup since their amicable split from Slovakia in 1993.

The former joint-nations success are accredited to both Czechia and Slovakia, meaning the former’s history in the World Cup is a rich one: Runners up in 1938 and 1962, Czechia also reached the quarter-finals in Italia ’90 in what was their final big hurrah on the world stage.

Now, having never gotten out of the group stage as an independent nation, Czechia will head into the tournament with a strong set of players in the likes of Patrick Schick and West Ham midfielder Thomas Soucek.

This relatively new batch of Czechian players has impressed on the European stage but is yet to truly stamp their mark in the same vein as their fore-fathers.

Having qualified as the only unbeaten side in the AFC qualifications, South Korea qualified top of their group with six wins and four draws from their 10 games.

It was a relatively strait-forward campaign however two draws with Palestine and one each with Jordan and Oman left a bit to be desired from the Korean’s who are now once again chasing Japan as the premier Asian footballing nation.

Captain Son Heung-Min was the second top scorer in qualifying with 10 showing that despite applying his trade in the MLS and no longer the Premier League, and at 33 heads into what will most likely be his fourth and final World Cup.

Czechia qualified for the World Cup through the play-offs as opposed to their opponents, having finished second behind Croatia in the group stage with five wins, one draw and two defeats. They then broke the hearts of the Irish nation by dampening their spirits following a remarkable comeback against Hungary.

A 2-2 draw with the Irish led to Czechia besting them 4-3 on penalties, they then bested Denmark on penalties in the final of the play-offs in Prague.

This quite remarkable feat means that Czechia qualified for the World Cup despite winning five of their 10 games in qualifying.

The only injury on the Korean front would be that of FC. Sharjah’s centre-half Cho-Yu Min who was ruled out of the squad with a foot injury, he has been replaced by Cho Wi-Je who applies his trade in his native Korea.

Other than that, there is a side littered with familiar names to European football fans.

There’s the obvious Captain and leader Son Hueng-Min who is now playing for LAFC, but the side also possess the talents of Wolves forward Hwang-Hee Chan who could start up front.

Elsewhere on the pitch, South Korea have the talents of PSG winger Lee Kang-In, who has featured heavily in Ligue 1 for the French and European Champions, and Bayern defender Kim Min-Jae acting as their anchor at the back.

Min-Jae plays for Bayern Munich and has featured heavily in his domestic teams comfortable title retention and their run to the Champions League semi-final.

Czechia’s star man has undoubtably been Patrick Schick, scorer of five goals in qualifying and always seeming to impress in major tournaments.

Schick will be hard to knock off as the main man for Czechia, as will defender Ladislav Krejci who was a shining light in a putrid Wolves side in the Premier League this season.

Manager Miroslav Koubeck, who is the second oldest manager at these tournaments, will have his work cut out for him to top such a highly competitive group.