🇰🇷 South Korea vs 🇨🇿 Czech Republic

Son Heung-min of Tottenham is their captain — one of the most complete forwards in world football, who'll be 34 by the end of the tournament. This is almost certainly his last major tournament. The whole country is aware of this and is watching accordingly.

South Korea famously co-hosted in 2002 and reached the semi-finals. It remains one of the great tournament shocks — though 'controversially' is a word that tends to follow any mention of it, so tread carefully there.

They're in Group A with Mexico, South Africa and Czech Republic. Mexico as hosts are the favourites to top the group, but South Korea reaching the knockouts is a realistic and respectable target.

Korean football has developed enormously over the last 20 years. Son plays for Spurs. Lee Kang-in plays for PSG. They're not a defend-and-counter team built purely on grit anymore — there's real technical quality in this squad.

The pressure on Son in Korea is extraordinary. He's a national hero, plays under intense public scrutiny, and every tournament game gets analysed in forensic detail by the Korean press. He handles it with remarkable grace, which is itself worth mentioning.

Czech Republic are quietly one of the more consistent European sides. They reached the Euro 2020 quarter-finals with an organised, physical team and qualify regularly for major tournaments without getting much credit for it.

Patrik Schick scored one of the goals of Euro 2020 — a 50-yard lob from the halfway line after he spotted the Scottish goalkeeper was off his line. Most people haven't seen it. Look it up before the tournament starts and then mention it casually.

They're in Group A with Mexico, South Africa and South Korea. Progressing is realistic but not guaranteed. Czech Republic's game management usually makes them hard to beat even when they're not the better team — that's a useful quality at a World Cup.

Czech football produces technically disciplined, physically strong players. The domestic league provides a solid base that perhaps doesn't get the credit it deserves in Western European football circles.

The squad has a good generational blend — experienced players alongside a younger cohort developed during a period of genuine investment in Czech youth football. They're well-coached and tactically flexible, which matters in knockout football.