South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo directs players during a national team training session at the Zions Bank Training Center in Herriman, Utah, Tuesday. (Yonhap) Will South Korea become the first Korean team to reach the knockout stage at consecutive World Cups played outside the country? According to projections from Opta's supercomputer, the odds are in its favor.Opta, a sports analytics company, said Monday it ran 10,000 simulations of the 2026 FIFA World Cup and projected the expected performance of all 48 teams in the tournament.The simulations gave South Korea a 70.35 percent chance of advancing from the group stage and a 33.52 percent chance of reaching the round of 16.The odds fall sharply beyond that point. South Korea was given a 12.74 percent chance of reaching the quarterfinals, a 4.02 percent chance of advancing to the semifinals, a 1.30 percent chance of making the final and a 0.36 percent chance of winning the tournament.In Group A, host Mexico received the highest advancement probability at 87.1 percent. Opta projected Mexico’s chances of reaching the round of 16 at 51.96 percent, the quarterfinals at 24.22 percent, the semifinals at 8.43 percent, the final at 2.96 percent and winning the title at 0.90 percent.Czech Republic, expected to be South Korea's primary rival for second place in the group, was given a 63.38 percent chance of advancing from the group stage. Its chances were projected at 28.10 percent for the round of 16, 10.06 percent for the quarterfinals, 3.02 percent for the semifinals, 1.00 percent for the final and 0.29 percent for the championship.South Africa was assigned a 49.29 percent chance of advancing.Among Asian teams, Japan received the strongest projection. Opta gave Japan a 76.16 percent chance of reaching the knockout stage, along with a 33.47 percent chance of reaching the round of 16, a 17.02 percent chance of making the quarterfinals, a 7.40 percent chance of advancing to the semifinals, a 3.28 percent chance of reaching the final and a 1.24 percent chance of winning the tournament.Opta’s favorite to win the World Cup was Spain at 16.1 percent, followed by France at 12.98 percent, England at 11.18 percent, Argentina at 10.36 percent, Portugal at 7.00 percent, Brazil at 6.61 percent, Germany at 5.12 percent, Netherlands at 3.62 percent, Norway at 3.51 percent and Belgium at 2.37 percent.(This article was produced with the assistance of AI. — Ed.)