After a 1:1 draw with the Republic of South Africa, the Czech footballers advanced to the knockout phase of the World Cup.
19.06.2026 10:01
Photo: TASR/AP, Mike Stewart
Disappointed Czech captain Ladislav Krejčí after the draw with South Africa.
After two games, they have only one point, and in the final meeting of the basic A-group they must beat home Mexico to progress.
“It will be difficult, but as long as we ‘live’, we will fight. I believe that we still have it in our hands,” forward Adam Hložek was quoted by idnes.cz website.
After losing to the Republic of Korea, the Czechs were preparing to learn from the wasted 1:0 lead. In the first meeting, they finally lost 1:2, this time they led 1:0 from the 6th minute with Michal Sadílek’s goal, but they did not win again. The division of points was decided by Teboh Mokoena’s penalty in the 83rd minute.
“We had a decent start, one of the best in recent times. We were brave, confident and not afraid to play. We moved in the right spaces, pressed.
At the end of the first half and also in the second, we held the ball less, stayed low and lacked strength. We all have to sit down and tell each other face to face what the problem is and set things up so that it doesn’t happen again,” said captain Ladislav Krejčí.
The duel between the Czech Republic and the South African Republic meant a confrontation between two teams that lost in the opening match.
The distribution of points did not help the African team too much, which has a worse score than the Czechs and is in the last 4th place. According to coach Hugo Broos, the JAR players played better football than the Czechs.
“If you like football, you will like our performance more than the Czech one. It was difficult for us to cope with long kicks, but I understand that this was their tactic. It’s a coach’s thing, maybe I would do the same if I was the Czech coach,” commented Broos.
Both teams will conclude play in the base group on Thursday, June 25 at 3:00 CEST. The Czechs will play Mexico, South Africa will play against the Republic of Korea. In the event of a tie, the Asian team will retain 2nd place, which means direct progress to the knockout stage.
Both teams, Czechs and JAR, must win to advance. The final two points might not even be enough for them to progress through the team table. The Czechs are facing an extremely difficult task – to defeat the home Mexicans, who will be cheered on by almost 80,000 fans at the Azteca Stadium.
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“Whoever doesn’t believe in us has no place in our team. In the first quarter (against JAR), we showed that we can play at this level. The only chance to advance is to beat Mexico, so we have to do it. We have to work with things as they are,” stated Krejčí.
Czech fans who watched the duel against JAR in Atlanta were understandably disappointed after the final whistle.
“I was really looking forward to the match, but our game disappointed me a lot. I thought that when I travel to the World Cup once in my life, I’ll see something, but it wasn’t worth much. The atmosphere was great, but our performance really disappointed me,” one of the Czech fans told iSport.cz.
Harsh words were also heard on social networks. Under the post of the Czech football team about the 1:1 result, one of the fans wrote:
“We are a team of cowards, I can’t even call it anything else. The opponent was definitely beatable, but again we didn’t win because we bet on defensive tactics. A big shame, the players left their courage in the dressing room.”
Those supporters who did not enjoy the division of points with JAR so much, were entertained by a pair of JAR fans. Before the match, the editor of idnes.cz asked them questions about the Czech Republic directly in the World Cup venue.
“Czech Republic? You are part of Slovakia, aren’t you? We will win 3:1. The Czechs will score the first goal, but we will turn it around,” said one of JAR’s supporters. When asked by the editor if he knew any Czech football players, he responded: “Sure, Szoboszlaia!”
Of course, a dedicated football fan knows that Dominik Szoboszlai, the star of FC Liverpool, represents Hungary.
However, JAR fans were not wrong in the last answer. “We also know about the Czech Republic that you have really pretty girls there,” added the couple at the end of a short poll, which you can look at this link .
