Bafana Bafana duo Mbekezeli Mbokazi and Puso Dithejane both featured as Chicago Fire sealed a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over Atlanta United in the Major Soccer League at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday morning.
Mbokazi, who recently made his return from an injury, started and featured for the entire 90 minutes while Dithejane took to the field in the 68th minute.
The win propelled Gregg Berhalter’s men into sixth position with 51 points after 31 matches having won 15, losing 10 and playing to six draws.
Chicago went behind just four minutes in with Tomás Jacob netting the opener, but the visitors levelled matters in the 30th minute through Anton Salétros to make it 1-1.
Anzor Mekvabishvili then gave Chicago a 2-1 lead in the 51st minute before it was 3-1 in the 60th minute via Philip Zinckernagel’s strike.
Breel Embolo pulled one back for the hosts in the 67th minute, but Chicago held on for the all-important win on the road.
The win was also a morale booster for Mbokazi and Dithejane who have been named in Pitso Mosimane’s preliminary squad to face Kenya in the 2027 African Cup of Nations qualifiers double header next month.
While the former Orlando Pirates captain makes his return to the squad since the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the Americas having sustained an injury, Dithejane scored the only goal as South Africa beat Egypt 1-0 in a friendly international in Cairo.