Ladislav Krejci is an important member of this Czechia side and is set to line up as part of their back three here for their opening game of the tournament.

Krejci plays his club football for Wolves, who obviously had a really poor season, but the 27-year-old did show glimpses of quality during the campaign - occasionally stepping into midfield, which is a part of his game that stays consistent when he’s playing for his national side.

There’s also a notable jump in Krejci’s foul won numbers when you compare his record for his country to his domestic duties.

He only averaged 0.27 fouls won per 90 playing for Wolves during the Premier League season, but if we look at his nine appearances for Czechia during qualifying, this number jumps to 0.83 fouls won per 90, with Krejci drawing eight fouls across those games. 

Krejci’s case is furthered by the fact that he usually has around 10 more touches of the ball per game when playing for his national side (74.9/63.7), giving him more opportunities to win fouls. 

Krejci was fouled twice in both of Czechia’s final games to reach the World Cup against Republic of Ireland and Denmark, drawing four fouls against the Danes. He operated as the left-sided centre back in a back three, which is a role that allows him to step forward into more advanced areas.

The final layer of evidence for this angle is South Korea’s front three. They didn’t commit masses of fouls during qualifying (9.19 per game), but their fouls do seem to be concentrated in the final third:

Gue-Sung Cho - 1.80 fouls p/90 (Striker) 

Hee-Chan Hwang - 1.74 fouls p/90 (Forward) 

Dong-Gyeong Lee - 1.51 fouls p/90 (Forward) 

There’s decent value here when taking this with bet365, the same angle is priced as short as 1.62 with other bookies.