Czechia looked like they had three points locked up for 77 minutes. Then a handball in the box rewrote the story, and South Africa’s Teboho Mokoena buried a penalty to salvage a 1-1 draw on June 18 in Atlanta. It was South Africa’s first-ever goal at a FIFA World Cup, and it came at the exact moment both teams desperately needed something to show for their tournament so far.
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The match: early lead, late drama
Michal Sadílek gave Czechia the lead in just the 6th minute, one of the earliest goals scored in the entire tournament. For the next hour-plus, the Czech side controlled the tempo and looked comfortable enough to see out the result.
A handball infringement in the Czech penalty area in the 83rd minute handed South Africa a lifeline. Mokoena stepped up and converted, sending the South African contingent into scenes of pure euphoria. It was a genuinely historic moment: the country’s first goal on the World Cup stage.
