World Cup Player of the Day: Lee Kang-In sparkles as South Korea make perfect start

12 Jun 2026 10:00 BST | 5 min read

Lee Kang-In FIFA World Cup 2026 — © IMAGO

Matthew Judge | Editor

It appears Lee Kang-In got the memo.

Having faded into the background at Paris Saint-Germain, there was plenty of talk before the World Cup about how the 25-year-old needed to impress this summer in order to kick start his stalling career.

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And Lee responded in perfect fashion in South Korea’s opening fixture against the Czech Republic on Thursday, reminding spectators why he was so highly rated before joining PSG in the summer of 2023.

STATS

Kang-in Lee

F (R), M (C)

PSG

Kang-in Lee

F (R), M (C)

PSG

38

Games
4

Goals
5

Assists

Having made just two starts at the last World Cup in Qatar, Lee was trusted from the get-go against the Czechs, with both nations deciding to operate in the same 3-4-2-1 formation in Zapopan, Mexico.

And that system worked a treat for Lee, who - in the right-sided No. 10 role behind talisman Son Heung-Min - was able to drift infield on his favoured left foot to cause the Czechs all sorts of problems with his ingenuity.

Quick to warm to the occasion, the former Mallorca man left Czech midfielder Alexandr Sojka for dead with beautiful close control, before his sumptuous through ball created a one-v-one for Tae-Seok Lee, but the wing-back's first touch let him down.

Lee then displayed his ability to strike a ball when collecting a pass from star defender Kim Min-Jae before a quick burst forward presented the opportunity to sting the palms of Matej Kovar from outside the box.

However, for all of Lee’s effort, South Korea soon found themselves 1-0 down when captain Ladislav Krejci punished Jae-Sung Lee’s lacklustre defending with a bullet header on the 59th-minute mark.

Yet as the pressure started to rise on South Korea, Lee continued to ask for the ball in tight spaces, and his bravery was rewarded when his delightful chipped pass was collected by In-Beom Hwang, who dinked the ball past Kovar just eight minutes later.

And Lee was somewhat involved in South Korea’s winner, too, drawing Krejci inside and allowing the marauding Hwang to surge into the space that opened up - the midfielder low cross being converted by substitute Hyun-Gyu Oh after 80 minutes.

After the final whistle sounded around the Guadalajara Stadium, with South Korea having won their opening World Cup fixture for the first time in four editions, the full-time statistics backed up Lee’s eye-catching display.

A comeback for Korea Republic. 🇰🇷#FIFAWorldCup
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) June 12, 2026

South Korea’s No. 19 completed the most dribbles (5) and also conjured up the most chances (3) in the match, while he also recorded a 100 per cent pass completion (38/38) rate against Miroslav Koubek’s Czech side.

Having made the ideal introduction to his second World Cup campaign, Lee will be looking to continue his fine form when Hong Myung-bo’s South Korea take on co-hosts Mexico in a mouth-watering clash on Friday, 19 June at the Guadalajara Stadium.

Like Lee and South Korea, Mexico got off to a winning start by beating South Africa 2-0 in their opening Group A fixture - a match which saw three players sent off at the famous Azteca Stadium.

South African duo Yaya Sithole and Themba Zwane and Mexico defender Cesar Montes all received their marching orders from referee Wilton Sampaio in the World Cup’s opening match - a bizarre episode considering there were just four red cards in the entire 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

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