Overview:
The African side, hosts in 2010 come into the game on the back of six winless matches and need to put an end to the streak if they are to give themselves a chance to play in the knockout stages of the competition for the first time.
Thursday June 18, 2026
- Mercedez Benz Arena – Atlanta 7pm
Following their opening day defeats, both South Africa and Czech Republic will be out to make amends and avoid early elimination when they meet at the Mercedez Benz Arena on Thursday.
Bafana Bafana was beaten 2-0 by co-hosts Mexico in the tournament opening match while Czech Republic threw away a lead in the 2-1 loss to South Korea.
Hugo Broos will have to do without the services of suspended Sithole and Themba Zwane who were red carded in the previous game with Thalente Mbatha likely to be recalled into the starting XI.
The African side, hosts in 2010 come into the game on the back of six winless matches and need to put an end to the streak if they are to give themselves a chance to play in the knockout stages of the competition for the first time.
On the other hand, Czech Republic were on a five-match winning run before that defeat to the Asian side.
There has been only one meeting between the two nations – a Fifa Confederations Cup meeting in 1997 which ended in a 2-2 draw.
Elsewhere in the same Group A, co-hosts Mexico and South Korea face off at 4am on Thursday but before that, Canada and Qatar face off at 1am while Bosnia and Herzegovina lock horns with Switzerland on Wednesday at 10pm.
How to watchAll 104 matches will be live on DStv on four dedicated FIFA World Cup Channels in multiple languages. The Channels are FIFA World Cup Central (Channel 222), FIFA World Cup Extra (Channel 223), FIFA World Cup Pass (Channel 225), and FIFA World Cup Swahili (Channel 224).
