South Korea's midfielder Lee Kang-in (left) and and Czech Republic's forward Patrik Schick (AFP-Yonhap) Soccer statistics firm Opta has projected that South Korea will have a 42.9 percent chance of defeating Czechia in its opening Group A match at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, making Hong Myung-bo's side the favorite.On Tuesday, Opta published updated World Cup group-stage projections generated by its supercomputer.The company had previously released forecasts for all 48 participating nations on June 2, but adjusted some of its estimates after running additional simulations.One of the most notable revisions concerns the outcome of Group A's opening match between South Korea and Czechia, known more commonly in English as the Czech Republic.Opta now gives South Korea a 42.9 percent probability of victory, compared with 31.1 percent for Czechia and 26 percent for a draw.Historically, South Korea has come off slightly worse against Czechia, with a record of one win, two draws, and two losses, though they have not met for about a decade.In the latest FIFA rankings, South Korea is ranked 25th, ahead of Czechia in 40th.Discussing the matchup, Opta noted that South Korea won the teams' most recent encounter in June 2016. South Korea took the lead through Yoon Bit-garam in the 27th minute before Suk Hyun-jun added a second goal in the 40th minute. Czechia managed only a consolation goal from Marek Suchý early in the second half.Opta also highlighted South Korea's current attacking options, noting that Cho Gue-sung and Son Heung-min have led the attack this year, with two goals each to share the team lead in scoring.For Czechia, Ladislav Krejci and Patrik Schick have each scored twice this year and are viewed as key threats.Opta gave Korea fairly even chances when it came to where it would end up in the group, giving it a 22.4 percent chance each of coming first or last. The most likely position was second, at 28.4 percent, followed by third at 26.8 percent.Opta considers Mexico the most likely group winner with a 48.0 percent chance, while Czechia's probability of topping the group stands at 18.4 percent.Czechia's chances of reaching the knockout stages are estimated at 64.2 percent.Opta's overall forecast for South Korea has also improved slightly since June 2. The earlier projection gave South Korea a 70.35 percent chance of reaching the Round of 32, 33.52 percent for the Round of 16, 12.74 percent for the quarterfinals, 4.02 percent for the semifinals, 1.30 percent for the final, and 0.36 percent for winning the tournament.In the updated version, which did not cover group stage positions, those probabilities have risen modestly to 70.62 percent, 33.72 percent, 12.53 percent, 4.05 percent, 1.34 percent, and 0.40 percent, respectively.(This article was produced with the assistance of AI. — Ed.)