GUADALAJARA, June 12 -- For an hour South Korea did everything but score, and then Hwang In-beom decided the game would not get away. He cut inside off Lee Kang-in's pass in the 67th minute, faked the defenders out of his path, and clipped a finish inside the post, and a match the Czech Republic had led tilted for good. South Korea won 2-1 on Thursday night, their first victory in a World Cup opening match since 2010.

The result puts South Korea level with Mexico at the top of Group A after the co-hosts opened the tournament with a win of their own, and it was built on the kind of dominance the scoreline understates. The Koreans took 62 percent of possession at the Estadio Akron and completed 464 passes to the Czechs' 242, nearly double....