FIFA World Cup: Hwang In-Beom inspires South Korea’s comeback win ove…

South Korea came from behind to defeat the Czech Republic 2-1 in a thrilling Group A clash at the FIFA World Cup 2026 on Friday, earning a valuable three points at Estadio Akron in Mexico’s Zapopan.

The Taegeuk Warriors were the brighter side from the outset and created better chances during the opening stages. Lee Han-beom went close to breaking the deadlock when his header flashed narrowly over the crossbar, while Lee Kang-in forced Czech goalkeeper Matej Kovar into a smart save with a powerful long-range effort. djcc.club

The Czech Republic gradually settled into the contest and nearly struck from a set piece, but captain Tomas Soucek fired wide after finding space inside the area. Despite South Korea’s attacking intent, clear-cut opportunities remained scarce before the interval.

Son Heung-min came closest when he surged forward on a promising run, only to drag his effort wide in the 39th minute as the teams went into halftime level at 0-0.

South Korea resumed on the front foot after the break and repeatedly tested Kovar. The goalkeeper produced important saves to deny Hwang In-beom, Lee Jae-sung and Son, keeping the European side in the match.

Those missed opportunities appeared costly when the Czech Republic opened the scoring just before the hour mark. Vladimir Coufal launched a long throw into the penalty area, and captain Ladislav Krejci rose highest to head home, beating Kim Seung-gyu for his sixth international goal.

However, the Czech lead lasted only a matter of minutes. South Korea responded strongly, with Hwang In-beom finishing calmly midway through the second half to restore parity and set up a tense finale.

The Czechs thought they had regained the advantage when Soucek headed into the net, but celebrations were cut short by an offside flag. South Korea then delivered the decisive blow in the closing stages. Substitute Oh Hyeon-gyu latched onto an excellent pass from Hwang and converted from close range to complete the turnaround.

The Czech Republic pushed hard for an equaliser, but Kim produced a crucial save to deny substitute Adam Hlozek late on.

South Korea held firm to secure victory and move into a strong position ahead of their next Group A encounter against co-hosts Mexico, while the Czech Republic will look to bounce back against South Africa.

મેક્સિકો સિટી સ્ટેડિયમમાં રમાયેલા આ મેચમાં મેક્સિકોની ટીમ શરૂઆતથી જ છવાયેલી રહી હતી.

શરૂઆતથી જ મેક્સિકોનું દબદબો રહ્યો

મેચ શરૂ થતાં જ મેક્સિકોએ આક્રમક રમત દાખવી. તેની અસર માત્ર 9મી મિનિટે જ જોવા મળી, જ્યારે જુલિયન ક્વિનોનેસએ દક્ષિણ આફ્રિકાના ડિફેન્ડરોને પાછળ છોડીને સુંદર ગોલ કર્યો અને ટીમને 1-0ની લીડ અપાવી.

પ્રથમ હાફનો સારાંશ

9મી મિનિટ: જુલિયન ક્વિનોનેસનો ગોલ – મેક્સિકો 1-0 આગળ.

17મી મિનિટ: દક્ષિણ આફ્રિકાના તેબોહો મોકોએનાને યેલો કાર્ડ.

25મી મિનિટ: ખેલાડીઓને આરામ અને પાણી માટે હાઇડ્રેશન બ્રેક.

પ્રથમ હાફ પૂર્ણ થાય ત્યારે મેક્સિકો 1-0થી આગળ હતું. સમયની ભરપાઈ માટે 4 મિનિટનો વધારાનો સમય પણ અપાયો હતો.

બીજા હાફમાં દક્ષિણ આફ્રિકાની મુશ્કેલી વધી

બીજા હાફની શરૂઆત દક્ષિણ આફ્રિકા માટે ખરાબ રહી.

49મી મિનિટ: સ્પેફેલો સીથોલેને સીધું રેડ કાર્ડ બતાવવામાં આવ્યું, કારણ કે તેણે મેક્સિકોના એરિક ગુટિયેરેઝને ગોલ તરફ વધતા રોક્યો હતો. દક્ષિણ આફ્રિકાને બાકીનો સમય 10 ખેલાડીઓ સાથે રમવું પડ્યું.

67મી મિનિટ: રાઉલ જિમેનેઝએ મેક્સિકો માટે બીજો ગોલ કરી સ્કોર 2-0 કર્યો.

84મી મિનિટ: VAR તપાસ બાદ દક્ષિણ આફ્રિકાના થેમ્બા ઝ્વાનેને પણ રેડ કાર્ડ મળ્યું. ત્યારબાદ ટીમ માત્ર 9 ખેલાડીઓ સાથે રમતી રહી.

મેક્સિકોને પણ લાગ્યો ઝટકો

મેચના અંતિમ ક્ષણોમાં મેક્સિકોના ડિફેન્ડર સીઝર મોન્ટેસને પણ ફાઉલ બદલ રેડ કાર્ડ મળ્યું. જોકે તે સમયે મેચ લગભગ પૂર્ણ થવા આવી હતી, તેથી પરિણામ પર તેનો કોઈ ખાસ અસર પડી નહોતી.

અંતિમ પરિણામ

મેક્સિકો 2-0 દક્ષિણ આફ્રિકામેક્સિકોએ જીત સાથે પોતાના વર્લ્ડ કપ અભિયાનની શાનદાર શરૂઆત કરી. મેચમાં કુલ 3 રેડ કાર્ડ બતાવવામાં આવ્યા, દક્ષિણ આફ્રિકાના 2 અને મેક્સિકોના 1 ખેલાડીને.

મેચના મુખ્ય મુદ્દા

મેક્સિકોનું શરૂઆતથી જ આક્રમક પ્રદર્શન. જુલિયન ક્વિનોનેસ અને રાઉલ જિમેનેઝના ગોલ નિર્ણાયક સાબિત થયા. દક્ષિણ આફ્રિકાને બે રેડ કાર્ડ મળતા ટીમ સંપૂર્ણ રીતે દબાણમાં આવી ગઈ. મેક્સિકોએ 2026 વર્લ્ડ કપમાં જીત સાથે આત્મવિશ્વાસભર્યું પ્રારંભ કર્યું.

Strengths: Since the last Women’s T20 World Cup in 2024, Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma’s opening partnership has yielded 762 runs at a strike-rate of 150, which is higher than any other pair in women’s T20Is. Their aggression in the Powerplay eases things for the middle order too. In the spin department too, Team India have quality. Left-arm spinner Shree Charani, who made her debut against England last year and picked up 10 wickets to win the Player of the Series award, should lead the spin brigade even as Deepti Sharma is the all-time leading wicket-taker in women’s T20Is with 161 scalps.

Renuka Singh Thakur

Weaknesses: India’s pace bowling department will sorely miss the services of Amanjot Kaur and Kashvee Gautam, out due to back and knee injuries, respectively. Renuka Singh Thakur was not part of India’s 1-2 series defeat to England recently, while the young Kranti Goud, 22, does not have enough experience to exploit the pace-friendly conditions in England. Her economy of 8.36 in 11 T20Is this far means she could end up leaking too many runs upfront.

Opportunities: Chandigarh pacer Nandini Sharma did brilliantly at the Women’s Premier League earlier this year, finishing as the joint-highest wicket-taker with 17 scalps for Delhi Capitals. She’s just three T20Is old, but could emerge as the star of the show if she can carry her EPL form into this tournament. Bharti Fulmali could also step in and make the finisher’s role hers, going by her 40-ball 56 not out (6x4s, 1x6) that saw India beat West Indies by 26 runs in a World Cup warm-up match recently.

Bharti Fulmali

Threats: Team India have three main threats, the first being its inconsistent results over a period of time. Secondly, the team combination is a worry given that Yastika Bhatia returns to the middle-order, in the No. 3 slot which was previously held by Jemimah Rodrigues. Also, big-hitter Richa Ghosh has been ineffective while Fulmali has just come in. Finally, the draw seems India’s biggest threat, considering they are in a six-team group, comprising two powerhouses, Australia and South Africa, from where only two teams will qualify for the semis. This means Harmanpreet Kaur & Co cannot afford a single slip-up in the league phase.

One
No. of Women’s T20 World Cup final appearances for India; they lost to Australia in the 2020 final

Former Indian women’s team captain Shubhangi Kulkarni insists that every member of Team India will have to shoulder their responsibilities if they are looking to win the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, beginning in Birmingham today.

“In the T20 format, every player has to contribute by playing their respective roles effectively and playing to their strengths. Richa [Ghosh], for example, is explosive as [scored 36-ball 68 vs England on Wednesday]. Jemimah [Rodrigues] can also bat responsibly.

We have seen that Harman [skipper Harmanpreet Kaur] is a big-match player. And I’m quite sure that Smriti [Mandhana] will look to do well too. But it can’t be just a few players performing. All will have to come good. All will have to put in their best in batting, bowling, and fielding,” Kulkarni, who represented the country in 19 Tests and 27 ODIs between 1976 and 1991, told mid-day over the phone from Pune on Thursday.

Kulkarni wants Harmanpreet Kaur & Co to recall their ODI World Cup triumph last November.

“They did it during the ODI World Cup win not too long ago. They played fearless cricket, gave their 200 per cent, backed each other. Now, they have to repeat all these things in England,” said Kulkarni.

Speaking about the team’s area of concern, Kulkarni said: “Our batters need to play less dot balls.

It’s all about taking singles, doubles, and running those hard runs. Also, outside the Powerplay, during the middle overs, they need to rotate the strike well,” Kulkarni signed off.

India begin their campaign-opener against Pakistan at Birmingham on Sunday.

The arrival of the Women`s Premier League in 2023 and a title win in the Women`s ODI World Cup has produced an "unstoppable force" in Indian cricket which will increase the depth, former England skipper Nasser Hussain said on Thursday. India clinched their maiden ICC title late in 2025 winning the Women`s ODI World Cup and a significant amount of credit for the team`s success was given to the T20 competition which brought about tectonic changes in women`s cricket in India. Hussain believes the combination of the two has already become unstoppable and Indian cricket stands to benefit in the longer run.

"It`s unstoppable now in the women`s, that combination of the WPL and the 50-overs World Cup win and the scenes at the end of that, now it`s an unstoppable force in Indian cricket and there will be more depth to the players coming through," Hussain told reporters on JioStar Media Day. "The biggest thing for me is depth. We`re trying to work out (the best combination) in that squad now, and obviously they`re missing two (players) as well because of injuries. Two very good players, Amanjot (Kaur) in particular," he said. Hussain said Indian Women`s team was reliant on a few players in the past but the recent years have seen the team`s superstars coming under pressure with others knocking on the door.

"The depth to Indian cricket may be before WPL - you go back to the World Cup final in 2017 - they relied heavily on three or four players before that, the great Mithali Raj, etc. They were lone warriors for them. Then it went to three or four (players)." "Now you`re looking at - and that`s good for Indian cricket because it means that your superstars in the team constantly have to perform because - as in the men`s, I hate going to the men`s because we`re talking women`s, but (a Vaibhav) Sooryavanshi comes along and those that (have) got places, someone has to be left out," he added.

Hussain also pointed out that increasing financial opportunities in the game will produce more cricketers, as seen in the IPL. "I hear rumours of parents now wanting their daughters to play more and more cricket because of the financial inducements in cricket and WPL and Big Bash and The Hundred," he said. "Some of The Hundred contracts we`ve seen just recently, it`s been life-changing money. It really has; Danny Gibson, Tilly Corteen-Coleman, have had life-changing contracts. It now has become a job and I don`t mean that in a negative way."

"I said the other day that winning the World Cup for England, that was cool. I took my daughter`s side to that final. They beat India in 2017 and a lot of those girls left and thought, `oh, cricket`s really cool`. But cool doesn`t pay the mortgage." "You need a job, a contract. You need finances and now the finances in the game, like in the men`s IPL, that means people from places in the past that haven`t produced cricketers.

"We`ve seen it in men`s Indian cricket, it (the talent) used to come from Bombay or Delhi or whatever. Now it is coming from places and that`s the same thing that will happen in the women`s." Hussain said while it will be imperative to keep an eye on the dot-ball percentage, having six-hitting ability is non negotiable. "The women`s game has changed from a touch game. You think of Meg Lanning, a wonderful touch player who stroked the ball to the boundary. One of the greatest I have ever seen. And now you see the power hitters that are around. They just clear the rope. They back themselves to hit sixes," he said.

"Whichever team hits the most sixes will probably win the tournament. But also, I do always keep (an eye) on our monitor in the commentary box a dot ball percentage. There is no point having five dots and then a six," he said. Catch all the action from ICC Women`s T20 World Cup 2026, June 12-July 5, LIVE on JioHotstar and Star Sports Network.

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