Czechia opened its World Cup 2026 campaign against South Korea in Guadalajara on a sweltering evening at about 27C and roughly 1,670 meters above sea level. For Tomáš Souček and his teammates, the opener came in conditions that can turn a first group game into a test of legs as much as nerve.
Kickoff was set for 8pm local time, when the air was still warm and thin enough to matter. South Korea arrived with a clear edge in preparation, having spent its warm-up period acclimatising at altitude in Utah, while Czechia had not had the same build-up because it qualified so late.
That gap matters because opening-round World Cup matches are often cagey and risk-averse even before the weather gets involved. Heat, altitude and the possibility of long stoppages can strip away rhythm quickly, and this game had all the ingredients to do that from the start.
South Korea had also altered its shape for the occasion. Hong Myung-bo and his assistant João Aroso moved the team from a 4-4-2 into a 3-4-3, with Kim Min-jae holding the back three together and Seol Young-woo and Lee Tae-seok working as wingbacks on the right and left. Hwang In-beom was the player knitting the midfield together, while Lee Kang-in and Son Heung-min were the main sources of individual brilliance.
The Czech side came in as the 40th of 42 nations to qualify for the tournament, after finishing behind Croatia in the first UEFA group phase and then surviving Playoff Path D with penalty wins over the Republic of Ireland and Denmark after 2-2 draws. It had also beaten Kosovo 2-1 in Prague and Guatemala 3-1 in New Jersey on the way to the finals, but none of that replaced the altitude work South Korea had already done in Utah.
That is the sharp edge in this match: one side had already rehearsed for thin air, the other was forced to adjust on the day. Czechia were in white change kit, South Korea were the team that had spent more than a year preparing for the tournament, and Hong’s system was still developing rather than fully fluid.
The unanswered question now is whether those early margins of preparation and adaptation showed up in the football itself. By kickoff, the setting had already done part of the talking.
