South Africa play Czechia, seek first World Cup win after Mexico defeat

The 2026 World Cup will have 13 kickoff times. You can use the Al Jazeera Sport widget to find out exactly when your team is playing in your local time.

Who: Czechia vs South Africa
What: FIFA World Cup 2026 Group A match
Where: Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
When: Thursday, noon (16:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 12:30 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.

The second round of the group matches at the 2026 World Cup begins on Thursday as Czechia face South Africa in Group A in Atlanta.

Despite scoring first in their tournament opener, the Czechs suffered a 2-1 defeat to South Korea in Guadalajara, Mexico, while South Africa faced a similar fate. Their nine-man side fell 2-0 to cohosts Mexico in a chaotic contest in Mexico City.

As they fly to the United States, both bruised teams will hope to bounce back and stay in the hunt for the knockout stages at the 48-team tournament.

Here is all to know about the Czechia vs South Africa matchup:

Under-pressure Czechs can’t afford a loss against South Africans

Czechia’s rugged, set piece-reliant game failed against South Korea’s fluid, possession-based football despite captain Ladislav Krejci scoring the opening goal.

With Group A table toppers Mexico posing a more complex challenge in their final group fixture, the Czechs know their best chance of securing three points will be against Bafana Bafana on Thursday.

“Against South Africa, we have to get it right,” defender Jaroslav ‌Zeleny ‌said.

“Mexico will probably be a tougher challenge afterwards, so we have to give everything in the match against South Africa and absolutely make sure we win it.”

Czechia players pose for a team photo before their World Cup 2026 opening match against South Korea [File: Paul Childs/Reuters]

Before the Czech Republic and Slovakia became separate countries, confederated Czechoslovakia was for many years one of the best teams in Europe and finished World Cup runners-up in 1934 and 1962. Since then, the Czechia’s record has been poor with only four tournament appearances and progression to the knockout stages only once – a quarterfinal run in 1990.

The Czechs, back at the tournament after 20 long years, need a much-improved performance to keep their World Cup dreams alive in North America.

South Africa out to silence critics after Mexico disappointment

With millions of fans watching from across the world, South Africa played Mexico in the tournament opener, bringing back memories of the 2010 edition’s opening game. But unlike the result in their home World Cup opener 16 years ago, South Africa suffered a crushing defeat this time.

And while that was not unexpected against a solid Mexican side playing in front of a partisan home crowd, what disappointed fans back home was the poor display by the South African team.

Two red cards, two goals conceded and a below-par fight drew widespread criticism in South Africa with everything from the individual displays to the tactics of their coach, Hugo Broos, under the spotlight.

Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio shows a red card to South Africa’s midfielder Themba Zwane during the 2026 World Cup Group A match against Mexico [Yuri Corte/AFP]

“Something that I’ve picked up is that South Africans are happy when you win, but when you lose, you are the worst. That is a fact,” winger Thapelo Maseko said.

“We have big players with heart, and if there ⁠is anyone out there doubting this team, they’d better think again.”

After impressive results by their African counterparts – Morocco, Cape Verde, Egypt and the Ivory Coast – the pressure is on Bafana Bafana to play catch-up.

Czechia vs South Africa prediction

Stats provider Opta’s supercomputer has given the Czechia a 54.9 percent probability of winning this fixture. South Africa has a 21.8 percent chance while there is a 23.3 percent probability of a draw.

Kickoff time and how to watch

• Czech Republic: CT Sport, CT Sport Plus, Nova Action (6pm Central European Summer Time)
• South Africa: SuperSport, SportyTV, New World TV (6pm South African Standard Time)
• United Kingdom: BBC Player, BBC One, ITVX (5pm British Summer Time)
• United States: FOX, FOX One, Telemundo App, Telemundo Network, Peacock (noon Eastern Daylight Time)

To check the TV listings for your country, head to FIFA’s TV listings schedule here.

How does the World Cup group stage work?

Czechia, South Africa, Mexico and South Korea are in Group A.

After the first round of matches in their group, Mexico occupies the top spot with South Korea in second. Czechia and South Africa are third and fourth, respectively.

The top two teams from each of the 12 groups – along with the eight best third-placed teams – proceed to the next phase, the round of 32, which has been introduced at the World Cup for the first time.

(Al Jazeera)

Form guide:

(Last five games, latest match first)

Czechia: L-W-W-W-W

South Africa: L-D-D-L-D

Although both teams lost their World Cup opening matches, Czechia have a much better record overall than South Africa in their last five games.

Before losing to South Korea in the tournament opener, Czechia beat Kosovo and Guatemala in their pre-World Cup friendlies. In March, they beat Denmark and Ireland on penalties in the UEFA qualifying playoffs and also thrashed Gibraltar in November.

South Africa, on the other hand, are winless in their last five games. Besides losing to Mexico in the tournament opener, they were also left frustrated with their performance in the build-up to the World Cup, drawing with Nicaragua and Jamaica and losing to Panama.

Head-to-head

Thursday’s match will be only the second meeting between the teams.

Nearly three decades ago in December 1997, Czechia and South Africa met in a FIFA Confederations Cup group-stage game, playing out a 2-2 draw in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Team news

The Czechs have no injury concerns, but South Africa will be without midfielders Sphephelo Sithole and Themba Zwane after both received a red card each in the opening game against Mexico.

Czechia’s predicted XI

(3-4-2-1): Kovar (goalkeeper); Chaloupek, Hranac, Krejci; Coufal, Soucek, Sojka, Zeleny; Provod, Sulc; Schick

South Africa’s predicted XI

(5-3-2): Williams (goalkeeper); Mudau, Sibisi, Okon, Mbokazi, Modiba; Mokoena, Mbatha, Adams; Rayners, Foster

Czechia fans will hope key midfielder Ladislav Krejci finds the net again and leads them to victory in their second World Cup 2026 group fixture against Bafana Bafana [File: Paul Childs/Reuters]