While Mexico open the tournament, Group A's other Day-1 fixture is a quiet collision of stories. Hong Myung-bo's South Korea are built around Son Heung-min — captain, fourth World Cup, now at LAFC — with Lee Kang-in and Kim Min-jae behind him. Czechia, under Miroslav Koubek, are at a World Cup for the first time since 2006, spearheaded by Bayer Leverkusen's Patrik Schick. Kickoff is the 10pm ET nightcap in Guadalajara.
The opener gets the fireworks; this gets the points that matter. South Korea arrive as the seeded side, captained by Son Heung-min at a fourth World Cup — he left Tottenham last summer after a decade to join LAFC — with Paris Saint-Germain's Lee Kang-in pulling the strings and Bayern Munich's Kim Min-jae anchoring the back line. Hong Myung-bo's squad also quietly makes history through Jens Castrop.
Czechia are the romance and the danger. Back at a World Cup for the first time since 2006, after Miroslav Koubek — who replaced the sacked Ivan Hašek in December — dragged them through two play-off shoot-outs, they are spearheaded by Patrik Schick, the Leverkusen striker with 25 goals in 52 caps. Captain Ladislav Krejčí and West Ham's Tomáš Souček and Vladimír Coufal give them a hard, experienced spine.
The opener decides the headlines. This match may decide who finishes second behind Mexico.
The Castrop selection — a first for Korean football — has its own story in the dual-heritage debutant, and the tournament-opening scene next door is in the Azteca curtain-raiser. The Fantakick build for this one is in the South Korea–Czechia lineup guide.
Sources: ESPN — South Korea squad · FIFA — Korea Republic squad · Olympics.com — Czechia squad · UEFA — Czechia at the World Cup.