Opta gives South Korea 42.9% chance of beating Czech Republic at World Cup

Football statistics firm Opta has put South Korea's chances of beating the Czech Republic in their 2026 FIFA World Cup group-stage opener at 42.9 percent — 11.8 percentage points higher than the Czech Republic's projected win probability of 31.1 percent.

Opta updated its supercomputer simulation-based group-stage predictions on its website Wednesday, putting the probability of a draw at 26.0 percent.

In its preview of the South Korea-Czech Republic match, Opta said the two sides last met in June 2016, when South Korea won 2-1.

On South Korea's attack this year, Opta said Cho Gue-sung (FC Midtjylland) and Son Heung-min (LAFC) are the team's joint top scorers with two goals each. For the Czech Republic, Ladislav Krejci (Wolverhampton Wanderers) and Patrik Schick (Bayer Leverkusen) have each scored two goals this year, Opta added.

South Korea (25th) sits 15 places above the Czech Republic (40th) in the FIFA rankings. However, the all-time head-to-head record favors the Czechs, with South Korea holding one win, two draws and two losses.

In Opta's final Group A standings projection, South Korea has a 22.4 percent chance of finishing first — second only to Mexico at 48 percent. The Czech Republic's odds of topping the group stand at 18.4 percent, below South Korea's. South Korea's probability of advancing to the round of 32 is 70.1 percent, ahead of the Czech Republic's 64.2 percent.

South Korea opens group play against the Czech Republic on Friday (Korean Standard Time), then faces Mexico on June 19 and South Africa on June 25.

This year's tournament is the first to feature 48 nations, with the top three teams in each group advancing to the round of 32.

황희찬 “명장면 다시 만들겠다…체코전 꼭 이기고 싶어”

https://biz.heraldcorp.com/article/10767878