South Sudan is the 144th-ranked nation in world soccer. (The operative word here is “nation.”)

The deep history of Sudan reads like the script of a Cecil B. DeMille movie. In ancient times, it was known as the Kingdom of Kush. The Egyptians took it over and referred to it as Nubia. Later it became the Meroitic Kingdom located around a place called the Sixth Cataract. It was conquered and ruled by Persians, then Greeks, then Romans. The Byzantines sent in missionaries, who converted the area to Christianity. They were followed by Arabs, who converted the area to Islam. Then came the Europeans, who first made it part of the Belgian Congo, then almost part of French West Africa, and finally it became Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.

The modern history of Sudan reads like a page out of a horror movie. Independence from Britain in 1956 was followed by not one but two civil wars (’56-’77 and ’86-’05), chronic corruption, death and displacement, malnutrition and starvation. In 2003, the Sudanese government and rebel forces in the west clashed in a region whose very name now gives us the shivers – Darfur – resulting in over 300,000 people killed and several million people displaced.

In 2011, the country of South Sudan became the world’s newest nation when the tribes there voted overwhelmingly to break with Sudan. The country signed the Geneva Convention in 2012. But corruption and violence continues, with seven armed groups currently at war with the government, and Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army active in the area. For the past two years, South Sudan has ranked first in the State Fragility Index. In other words, it may just be the saddest place on earth.

And somehow this country manages to field a soccer team. The South Sudan squad joined world football in 2012, and for the next few years proved largely incapable of competing. But just last month, they beat Equatorial Guinea 1-0, achieving the nation’s first competitive win, and earning them the right to play in a World Cup qualifying match, which they played against Mauritania this past Wednesday night. Given the dismal history of South Sudan, it should come as no surprise that, with the score tied 1-1 in the 10th minute, the game was postponed due to extreme weather. But the team proved resilient, and last night in the capital city of Juba, the game was continued, resulting in the same 1-1 score and earning South Sudan a draw.

Now, it’s unlikely you’ll see South Sudan in the World Cup any time soon. They are one of 52 teams competing in the Africa Cup of Nations, of which only the best five will go on to compete in Russia in 2018. They probably won’t even make it out of the qualifying rounds…

But their draw with Mauritania earns them a bright star: their first point in international soccer.

More importantly, it may be a small glimmer of hope and pride in the world’s youngest, most challenged nation.