The Czech Republic men’s football team will square off against South Korea tonight in their first match of this year’s highly anticipated World Cup. The match will take place in Mexico’s Estadio Guadalajara at 8 pm local time, and 4 am in the Czech Republic.
Although the game will take place in the middle of the night, many fans are ready to pull an all-nighter. This includes local bartender Michal, who says, “I’m super excited. I’ve been waiting for months for the game.” He continued, “I only see about a 50% chance of the Czech Republic making it out of their group.”
The Czech Republic is playing in Group A, alongside Mexico, South Korea and South Africa. The team will play South Africa on 18 June and will then face off against Mexico on 24 June.
The last time the Czech Republic men’s team qualified for the World Cup was in 2006. The stakes couldn’t be higher as the Czech Republic prepares to kick off on opening day of this year’s tournament.
Many Czechs are optimistic about the 40th-ranked Czech Republic squad’s chances of pulling off an upset against 25th-ranked South Korea, given that they are participating in this year’s event with many high quality players such as Adam Hložek, Patrick Schick and Pavel Šulc.
The Czech Republic has never won the World Cup. Their best finishes were as runner-up in both 1934 and 1962. Czech football fans are hoping their luck changes this year and that they will finally achieve the glory of winning the entire tournament.
