Mbokazi wins Mzansi battle in MLS

Bafana Bafana’s Mbekezeli Mbokazi won the battle of the South African centre halves on Saturday as his Chicago Fire upended Olwetu Makhanya’s Philadelphia Union 2-1 away in Major League Soccer action.

Jonathan Bamba scored his second goal early in the second half to add to Philadelphia’s woes as they lost for a fifth successive game to sit bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.

This is in stark contrast to the performance from Bradley Carnell’s team last season when they finished top of the table at the end of the regular season.

It was a first away victory of the season for Fire after leading the Eastern Conference with nine away victories last season.

Chicago Dogs > Philly Cheesesteaks always. #cf97 pic.twitter.com/9Gr9ycYGdQ — Chicago Fire FC (@ChicagoFire) March 21, 2026

Hugo Cuypers opened the scoring but Milan Iloski equalised, with his first goal for Philadelphia just before halftime.

But when Bamba got the winner, Union extended the worst start for a reigning Supporters' Shield holder, less than 72 hours after their elimination from the CONCACAF Champions Cup with a 1-1 draw at Mexico City's Club América and a 2-1 aggregate defeat.

Mbokazi headed straight back to South Africa after the match for the two World Cup warm-up games against Panama but Makhanya, after being named in the preliminary squad, was left out.