South Africa and the Czech Republic settle for a draw.

The Czech and South African teams settled for a draw (1-1) on Thursday in their first match of the second round of the group stage, making their task of qualifying for the Round of 32 in the 2026 FIFA World Cup more difficult.

At the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Czech team took the lead through Michal Sadilek in the sixth minute, before Teboho Mokoena equalized with a penalty in the 83rd minute.

Both teams entered the match following losses in the first round (Czechia lost to South Korea 1-2, and South Africa lost to Mexico 0-2), allowing each to earn their first point before facing the other two teams later, which will grant the winner a ticket to the Round of 32 and the top spot in the group.

It seemed that Czech coach Miroslav Koubek was not satisfied with the first match, as he made five changes to the starting lineup, which resulted in the fastest goal of the tournament so far, scored by Sadilek who opened the scoring just six minutes into the game, following an attack that started from a throw-in and reached Alexander Sulek, who calmly passed the ball to the Slavia Prague midfielder, who put it in the net from close range.

Ouswin Apollis responded with a long-range shot that deflected and hit the side netting in the 12th minute, then Mokoena tried his luck twice; the first with a long shot that went over the goal (45), and the second from close range that was cleared by the defense (45+4).

In the second half, Patrick Schick attempted to add a second goal with a simple header that landed in the hands of goalkeeper Ronwen Williams (48).

For more than half an hour, neither team offered much to change the score until Thabiso Masekela took a shot from the edge of the area that hit the hand of substitute Pavel Schulz, prompting American referee Mary Victoria Benso to award a penalty, which was confirmed by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

Mokoena stepped up to take the penalty, scoring his country's first goal in this edition and keeping their hopes of qualification alive.

Lukáš Provod tried to snatch all three points for Czechia with a shot from outside the area, but it did not find its way to the net (90+4), while Aubrey Modiba attempted the same for South Africa, but the defense thwarted his effort (90+6).

Czechia will play their third match against Mexico, one of the host countries, while South Africa will meet South Korea in the third round, in their quest to qualify from the group stage for the first time in their fourth participation.