There were large sections of empty seats at the Akron Stadium in Guadalajara as South Korea fought back from behind to beat Czech Republic 2-1 in the second game of the World Cup.
Complaints about ticket prices, travel costs and visa issues have been a big theme of the build-up to a tournament that is being held in Mexico, Canada and the United States. At the second smallest of the 16 venues, there appeared to be thousands of unoccupied seats.
In the game, Son Heung-min had the best chances of a disjointed first half, shooting wide from the edge of the box and then failing to sort out his feet when he had a fine opportunity to score just before half-time.
South Korea had the better of that half but it was Czech Republic who took the lead from a long throw that was headed in by Ladislav Krejci — their first attempt on target on 59 minutes.
Eight minutes later the game was level when Hwang In-beom clipped the ball deftly over the onrushing Matej Kovar and Oh Hyeon-Gyu completed the comeback on 86 minutes.
Here The Athletic’s Jacob Whitehead explains the key talking points.
Why the empty seats?
“Until today, we have sold over six million tickets,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said at his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday. “The demand has been unprecedented, not by a little bit, but by a factor of 10 or more.”
Well, if that was the case, nobody told Guadalajara. There were swathes of empty seats at the Akron Stadium, situated on the city’s western edge. These were particularly concentrated towards the pitchside VIP section at the centre of the east stand, but patches of red seats could be seen throughout — leaving what looked like thousands of empty seats in total.
There were lots of empty seats at the game (Getty Images)
Tickets in the lower tier cost $500, with those on the sidelines at the top of the stadium’s bowl priced at $400. A large number of empty seats appeared to be in hospitality, costing over $5,000 if purchased by supporters, rather than given away by corporate sponsors.
This game was the first true test of the World Cup’s pricing plan — Mexico’s home opener at the Azteca Stadium was always going to sell out. South Korea vs Czech Republic, by contrast, took place between the world’s 25th and 37th-ranked sides in one of the tournament’s poorest host cities.
Mexican fans still dominated the supporter numbers — conspicuous in the shirt of the national side — with a healthy number of South Koreans, but there were very few Czech fans. Czech Republic only qualified for the tournament at late notice in March with their team facing hefty amounts of travel — they will cover the third-most miles of any team in the group stages.
FIFA announced the official attendance as 44,985 — the Akron has an official capacity for the tournament of 45,664, making it the second-smallest venue in use at the World Cup behind Toronto.
That implied just 700 seats remained unsold — which clearly undersold the huge stretches of empty space. The Athletic asked FIFA if the attendance was based on ticket sales or numbers through the gate. In response, a FIFA spokesperson could not answer, sating they could only “refer to the official attendance”.
Were South Korea better without Son?
South Korea launch furious comeback — despite Son’s spurned chances
In many ways, this tournament may be Son’s final bow at the very top level. The Tottenham Hotspur legend has not been tearing up trees in MLS, in which he is goalless all season in league play for LAFC.
The forward has always been able to turn it on when it matters, however — look at the 2018-19 Champions League run, or his talismanic leadership at the 2018 Asian Games, in which South Korea’s victory saved him from mandatory military service — and the expectation was that the World Cup would see one more magic moment from the 33-year-old.
Well, those opportunities came, many of them.
In the first half, he narrowly curled wide with his left foot from just over 20 yards, though without pressure on him, would have expected to find the corner. Then, in the seconds before half-time, he sold a stepover, played the ball out to the left wing — but narrowly missed out on making proper contact with the return pass.
Son Heung-min had chances to put South Korea ahead (Julian Finney – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
His most egregious miss came early in the second period, when he failed to lift the ball over Czech ‘keeper Kovar — in short, the instincts which served him for a decade in north London appeared to be on the wane.
Those misses opened the door for the Czech Republic, who duly walked through it via a bullet header from Krejci, powering home Vladimir Coufal’s long throw.
It put the pressure on a South Korean side who have been the subject of heavy home criticism after a 4-0 defeat by Ivory Coast in March, and who are expected to reach the knockout stages at a minimum.
Much has been made of the fitness of Feyenoord midfielder Hwang — who finally delivered South Korea the goal that their dominance had merited, lobbing Kovar after a smart turn, his finish the successful epitome of what Son had tried earlier in the game.
Oh’s winner 20 minutes later was much uglier, ricocheting in off Kovar from a toe-poke — but it came from a direct run on goal that Son had not been making. It should be said that Son was not alone in a disappointing performance
Where does this leave group A?
After Mexico’s 2-0 win over South Africa in Mexico City earlier in the day, South Korea’s victory meant that both favourites in Group A had successful starts to their campaign. Players of The Athletic’s pick’em game successfully backed both results, with South Korea winning 51 per cent of the vote pre-game, with just 16 per cent opting for a Czech victory.
In all probability, both Mexico and South Korea will need just one more win to put themselves in the knockout stages — while the Czech Republic will likely need to beat South Africa before getting a result against Mexico in their final game to progress.
