A narrow defeat for South Korea against Mexico
Men's football•
A South Korea side featuring Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in lost 1–0 to Mexico at Guadalajara's Estadio Akron this morning in its second group-stage match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Almost a week after getting their tournament up and running with a convincing 2–1 win over Czechia to earn themselves three valuable points in the race to the knockout stage, the Taegeuk Warriors today took on Mexico – one of the 2026 FIFA World Cup's three host nations – at Guadalajara's Estadio Akron, where the home crowd was predictably behind the hosts. Having been instrumental on Matchday 1, Lee Kang-in was once again named in his side's starting line-up for this high-profile clash in which South Korea would put in a more than respectable performance.
Although he played the full 90 minutes and was a key figure both in attack and in defence, our midfielder was unable to prevent Javier Aguirre's men from maintaining their perfect record in the tournament so far as they secured a 1–0 victory thanks to a 50th-minute goal from Luis Romo. Following the 1–1 draw between Czechia and South Africa a few hours earlier, the South Koreans remain second in the group, three points behind their opponents today but two points clear of Bafana Bafana, whom they'll meet next Thursday (Matchday 3).
MEXICO 1-0 SOUTH KOREA (0-0 at HT)
FIFA World Cup 2026 – Group stage – Group A – Matchday 2
Estadio Akron (Guadalajara, Mexico)
Goal: Romo (50').
MEXICO: Rangel, Sánchez, Álvarez, Vásquez, Gallardo, Lira, Romo (Vargas, 71'), Gutiérrez (Pineda, 71'), Jiménez (Giménez, 80'), Quiñones (Huerta, 84'), Alvarado (Reyes, 80'). Coach: Javier Aguirre.
SOUTH KOREA: Kim Seung-gyu, Lee Han-beom, Kim Min-jae, Kim Moon-hwan (Eom Ji-sung, 71'), Seol Young-woo (Yang Hyun-jun, 71'), Lee Gi-hyuk, Hwang In-beom, Paik Seung-ho (Cho Gue-sung, 77'), Lee Jae-sung (Hwang Hee-chan, 57'), Lee Kang-in, Song Heung-min (Oh Hyeon-gyu, 57'). Coach: Hong Myung-bo.
