Chicago Fire defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi reaches rare MLS World Cup milestone | OneFootball

The first match of the 2026 World Cup has ended. Mexico defeated South Africa 2-0, with the goals of Raul Gimenez and Julian Quiñones.

Before the match, everyone could bet that Mexico would dominate, but not like they did. The Mexican national team hit first but took its foot off the gas, giving the African side opportunities to get back into the game.

However, they failed to capitalize on the spaces left by the World Cup hosts' midfielders. Nevertheless, after this encounter, a South African player joined a small group of MLS players who achieved a milestone for the league.

Mbekezeli Mbokazi joins a select group of MLS players

Although South Africa didn’t perform as the people expected, there is one player who made history at the World Cup.

By starting in today's World Cup opener against Mexico, Chicago Fire defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi becomes just the third MLS player from Africa (CAF) to appear in a FIFA World Cup.

The other two footballers are Nouhou, a Seattle Sounders left-back from Cameroon, and Uche Okafor, a Sporting Kansas City center-back from Nigeria.

Nouhou is the most recent, joining this group on the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup, while Okafor became the first player at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. Neither of those two players reached the quarterfinals.

Okafor was the closest, advancing past the group stage at the 1998 World Cup before being eliminated by Denmark in the Round of 16.

On the other hand, Nouhou's Cameroon side failed to advance from the group stage, finishing third in Group G behind Brazil and Switzerland and narrowly missing out on a place in the knockout rounds.

Could Mbekezeli Mbokazi follow Okafor’s steps and get out of the group phase, or will South Africa continue battling to break the course of getting to the elimination phase?

After this defeat, the African nation has an uphill battle, but nothing is impossible in this beautiful sport.