Both Group A games were a fingertip away from both being 1-1 draws, as only South Africa could find their late equalizer and South Korea's loss means Mexico will top Group A and are the first team into the knockouts.
MEXICO 1, SOUTH KOREA 0
After a first half nearly devoid of anything that resembled offense, the second half was only marginally better outside of the two key moments in the match.
In the 50th minute, Korea keeper Kim Seung-Gyu came well of his line to claim a deflected ball that went about 40 feet straight up at the penalty spot, but on the way down he crashed into the back of one of his teammates causing the ball to spill inside the area. Mexico's Luis Romo was right there to react and stab the ball through the mass of players and capitalize on the gift and a 1-0 lead.
Sam Lattof
South Korea nearly tied it at the death in the 87th minute, when striker Cho Gue-Sung headed down Eom Ji-Sung cross towards the near corner from point blank range only to be denied by Raul Rangel. The Guadalajara keeper playing in his home stadium then saved the follow up effort from Yang Hyun-Jun from his backside as the El Tri #1's double save preserved the victory.
Until the error from Korea, this game seemed destined for a 0-0 draw. Son Heung-Min was withdrawn after not even an hour and having only gotten 22 touches on the night, perhaps head coach Hong Myung-bo thought discretion was the better part of valor with one match remaining.
CZECHIA 1, SOUTH AFRICA 1
The Czechs grabbed the earliest lead so far at the World Cup, when a wonderful 6th minute move started by a long throw deep down the right sideline followed by a low cross cut back through the top of the penalty area ended with Michal Sadilek converting off a simple feed from Alexandr Sojka.
However, aside from two Patrik Schick headed chances, the Czechs didn't generate much offense and seemed content to sit back back and let South Africa do not much with 60% of the possession.
Jake Catanese
Disaster struck in the 82nd minute however when a South African cross struck Pavel Sulc's left arm as he was turning away for a block and American center referee Tori Penso, leading the second all-female crew ever at the Men's World Cup, pointed to the spot. Replays showed Sulc's right arm clearly tucked in but his other arm likely was away enough to deserve the spot kick.
Teboho Mokoena stepped up and buried the penalty to the far corner while keeper Matej Kovar went the other way, officially leveling the scoreline in the 83rd minute and both teams settled for the point.
GROUP OVERVIEW
Jake Catanese
With head-to-head now the primary tiebreaker, Mexico clinches the group with six points as the best South Korea can do is tie them. Czechia and South Africa are alive but I'm not sure two points is going to be good enough in the third place table, they're going to need a win in their final matchups while Korea likely only needs a point to advance but a win to secure second place outright.
UPCOMING MATCHES
Wednesday, June 24
Match 53: Czech Republic vs. Mexico, 9 p.m. on Fox (Mexico City)
Match 54: South Africa vs. South Korea, 9 p.m. on FS1 (Monterrey, Mexico)
