📹 Thrilling comeback wraps up Group A's opening round; Copa table

📹 Thrilling comeback wraps up Group A's opening round; Copa table The 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, kicked off this Thursday (11). The opening match ended with Mexico beating South Africa 2-0 at the legendary Azteca Stadium. Besides goals from Quiñones and Jiménez, the one who drew a lot of attention in the World Cup opener was Brazilian referee Wilton Pereira Sampaio. The Brazilian was even named on social media as the main character of the match thanks to a "hat-trick" of red cards right in the tournament’s first game . Later, in the late-night slot, South Korea came from behind to beat Czechia 2-1 in Guadalajara, Mexico, also in Group A. Back at the World Cup after 20 years, the Czechs opened the scoring with Coufal’s long throw and a strong close-range header from Krejci. But Hwang In-Beom scored a stunner right after, dribbling past a defender and delicately chipping the goalkeeper to level the match. Czechia even scored a second through Soucek with a header, but the goal was ruled out for offside at the moment the free kick was delivered into the box. However, soon after, Hwang In-Beom received a beautiful long ball down the right and crossed into the box for Oh Hyeon-Gyu to complete the comeback with a first-time finish. By scoring the equalizer and the winning goal in 13 minutes, South Korea recorded the second-fastest comeback in its World Cup history. In 2010, in South Africa, the Koreans came from behind against Nigeria in 11 minutes. In fact, that World Cup was also the last time South Korea won its opening match. Before all that happened, the most notable moment of the "flat" first half was Czechia’s beautiful jersey being torn by South Korean Lee Han-Beom . The 2026 FIFA World Cup features 48 national teams split into 12 groups of four. The first phase runs until June 27, when the 32 teams that qualified for the round of 32 will be confirmed. According to the rules, besides the first- and second-place teams in each group, the eight best third-place teams also advance to the knockout stage. The 16 round-of-32 matches will take place between June 28 and July 3. The round of 16 will be played between July 4 and 7, with the quarterfinals taking place between July 9 and 11. With the semifinals set for July 14 and 15, the World Cup final is scheduled for July 19 (Sunday) in New Jersey at 4 p.m. (Brasília time).  📅 Check out Friday’s (12) World Cup matches 4 p.m. (Brasília time) - Canada vs Bosnia - Group B 10 p.m. (Brasília time) - United States vs Paraguay - Group D  📊 See the Group A standings This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.