South Africa stays alive with draw vs Czech Republic

ATLANTA— Teboho Mokoena began the sport with tears in his eyes and finished it with a smile on his face after converting a second-half penalty in South Africa’s 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic on Thursday on the World Cup.

Thapelo Maseko’s long range shot late within the match caught the hand of Czech opponent Pavel Sulc in the world.

Mokoena, who was shown on camera with tears rolling down his cheeks through the pre-game national anthem, stepped as much as the penalty spot and sent his shot low past Czech Republic goalkeeper Matej Kovar within the 83rd minute.

The South Africa midfielder said he was overwhelmed before kick off, excited about his late grandfather.

“I do know, wherever he’s, he could be happy with me,” Mokoena said. “I just felt his presence in that moment. I assumed if he was here, he could be happy with me because I do know he believed in me when no one believed in me.”

Michal Sadilek had given the Czechs the lead within the sixth minute at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Alexandr Sojka played in Sadilek and he slid a shot past goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.

Each teams lost their opening matches, and each knew one other setback would seriously hinder their possibilities of reaching the round of 32.

South Africa faced some strong criticism following its 2-0 loss to World Cup co-host Mexico, which raised the prospect of the country extending its run of never having advanced to the knockout phase of a World Cup — at the same time as host in 2010.

“If we go on like that and if we will make one other performance like today I feel we’ve got a probability to go within the second round,” South Africa coach Hugo Broos said.

South Africa will next face South Korea on Wednesday in Group A, but can be without Mokoena, who’s suspended after picking up his second yellow card of the tournament.

The Czechs lost to South Korea 2-1 of their opening match and can likely have to beat Mexico of their final game on Wednesday to advance.