National football team Bright Stars earned a draw in their first appearance in a World Cup qualifying match, which resumed on Thursday after rain forced an abandonment on Wednesday.

The 2018 preliminary round first-leg qualifier at home to Mauritania had been called off after only 10 minutes because of the extreme weather conditions, with the score at 1-1.

The remaining 80 minutes of the game were played out on Thursday morning, with neither side able to add to the scoreline.

South Sudan managed to mark their historic appearance by scoring their first World Cup goal – the honour going to Dominic Abui Pretino, who struck on five minutes to cancel out Boubacar Bagili’s third-minute opener.

The sides will meet for the second leg in Nouakchott on Tuesday 13 October.

South Sudan joined international football only in 2012, a year after the country became independent from Sudan, and in September they achieved their first competitive win – beating Equatorial Guinea 1-0 in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

BBC