World Cup witnesses vast amount of empty seats in second match as ticket prices defended

There may have been a raised eyebrow or two when FIFA announced the attendance for South Korea’s win over Czech Republic.

According to FIFA, there were 44,985 fans packed inside Guadalajara Stadium, which has a capacity of 45,664.

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That would suggest there were only 679 empty seats.

However, pictures and footage from the match seem to say otherwise, as several patches of empty red seats were visible.

Ticket pricing for the match did not help the attendance cause, with tickets in the bottom tier of the stadium costing $500 (£373).

The most noticeable areas of empty seats came in the hospitality section, where tickets were priced at over $5,000 (£3,730).

Ticket prices at this World Cup have been an ongoing concern, with Irvine mayor Larry Agran describing FIFA’s dynamic pricing as ‘very troubling’.

Simon Jordan’s verdict on World Cup ticket prices

However, talkSPORT pundit and former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan believes the sky-high prices are the unfortunate reality of what the game is now.

“I think it is what it is,” Jordan said on Thursday’s edition of White and Jordan.

“I understand the argument and I concur with the argument that once upon a time, this game was about ensuring that everybody could watch it.

“We saw when football was created, it was about the factories turning out and everybody had a rattle. But it’s moved on from there.

“Now, football is business and it’s about money and it’s about finance. You might not like it, but unfortunately it’s the reality of it.”

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Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, was another voice who defended the ticket prices for the tournament.

“President Trump said it a couple of weeks ago. The tickets are very expensive,” Giuliani exclusively told talkSPORT.

“I think that’s what happens when you have an event like the World Cup, which is truly amazing, here in the United States of America.

“You have, as of right now, over six million tickets sold. The previous record for tickets sold at a World Cup was 3.5million. That was back here in the USA in 1994.

“So when you have that demand for a World Cup, and a limited supply of tickets… we’re talking about less than seven million tickets and I’ve heard there have been more than 500m ticket requests across the tournament… it ends up creating expensive prices.

“I think there are some games that people can access for less than $250. For the US opener, for some of the English games, Brazil, Argentina, those prices are more expensive.

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“What I am proud of is what the President was able to announce last week, along with the Bank of America and FIFA, which is 4,547 tickets going to our military veterans and first responders, including 250 in each of these US matches.”

Late delight for South Korea

For those who did part with a pretty penny for a seat in Guadalajara Stadium, they were treated to a come-from-behind win from South Korea.

Ladislav Krejci broke the deadlock in the 59th minute when he rose highest to head home from Vladimir Coufal’s long throw.

But the Czechs’ lead lasted just eight minutes as Hwang In-beom bagged the equaliser.

The Feyenoord star faked his initial shot to deceive Czech goalkeeper Matej Kovar before he dinked the ball into the far corner.

Oh Hyeon-gyu, who replaced Son Heung-min in the 69th minute, completed South Korea’s comeback ten minutes from full time when he tapped home Hwang’s cross.

South Korea’s win marked the first time in the last four World Cups they opened the tournament with a victory.

They joined Mexico with three points in Group A after the co-hosts breezed past South Africa 2-0.