Mokoena rescues point for South Africa against Czechia and relieves pressure on Broos

They can put the matches away, at least for a while. Before this game, Hugo Broos had responded to fierce criticism over South Africa’s start to the World Cup by revealing that eight months ago after qualification a friend had said they would erect a statue of him and the coach had replied by saying: “Make it out of wood; that way it will burn more easily.” Beaten 2-0 by Mexico, they were seven minutes away from following that with a 1-0 loss to Czechia, left with no points, no goals and not much hope. But from almost nowhere, in an arena that Broos criticised as “not a football stadium”, they got the penalty that allows them to fight another day.Pavel Sulc was the unfortunate man who gave it away, not given time to remove his hand from the path of another long shot. Teboho Mokoena was the man who scored it and what it means could be seen not just in how he celebrated then but in the tears that had rolled during the national anthem before. A 1-1 draw may not be a great result and it wasn’t always a great game but there was a smile from Mokoena at the end, and life too. There was also pride from Broos, who insisted his team had played “good football” and “made chances”, and expressed disappointment at performing under a closed roof in Atlanta. Continue reading...