A late Teboho Mokoena penalty gave South Africa their first point at the World Cup and leave Group A wide open.
South Africa were soundly beaten by Mexico in the tournament’s opener and were again staring at defeat after Michal Sadilek struck the earliest goal of the tournament so far.
But Czechia were passive in the second half and were made to pay when Mokoena buried his spot-kick to leave both sides on one point from two games.
Czechia striker Patrik Schick missed a great chance inside the first minute when he appeared to lose track of the ball in the stadium lights and totally mistimed a free header.
But his side were soon ahead. Sadilek was played in on goal after a throw and fired past Ronwen Williams after a smart touch from Alexandr Sojka.
South Africa improved slightly and looked a threat at times with Mokoena firing over from range, while Matej Kovar spilled a cross and Thapelo Maseko couldn’t force it in.
South Africa have never won a World Cup game having conceded the opening goal but were the better side in the second half.
They were handed a lifeline when Maseko’s shot hit the arm of substitute Pavel Sulc and referee Mary Penso pointed to the spot.
Mokoena made no mistake to leave both sides in with a chance of progression.
South Africa play South Korea in their final game while Czechia head to the Azteca to face Mexico.
‘That is his opinion’
Czech Republic manager Miroslav Koubek rued missed chances to put the game away.
“We are sorry about the result, because I think that taking a look at the chances, we were nearer to victory,” Koubek told reporters.
“But we were not able to score a second goal. If we scored a second goal, it would probably be the end of the match. Unless you score a second goal, you cannot win in such a match, and we had quite a few chances to score a goal.
“On the other hand, South Africa did not create too many chances. They only had a few shots on goal from distance, I am convinced that we were closer to victory than they were, and we have in the end at least one point.”
Koubek did not agree with South Africa’s manager Hugo Broos, who spoke after the game about the Czechs only creating danger from their tall players from set-pieces.
“That is his opinion. He may have such an opinion, but my opinion is different,” Koubek replied when asked about Broos’ words.
“I agree that the first half was better. We played better in the first half, but I do not agree that South Africa had many chances. I did not see these chances.
“Sometimes there might have been the impression that our opponent was better because they were on the ball, but they did not have that many chances as we did.”
