Mbokazi made his senior breakthrough with the Orlando Pirates, before heading to the United States in December 2025 on a four-year contract. He is now testing himself against some iconic figures, which should serve to benefit his ongoing development.
Asked about that experience and the role said outings will play in inspiring the next generation of South African talent, Khumalo added: “Firstly, he’s an ambassador for South African football because his success is actually going to spoil the party for the rest of the youngsters in South Africa. And for him to be playing against the likes of Messi, all the big names that are there in the MLS, I think is a great achievement.
“Looking at Mbekezeli Mbokazi and looking at him while he was still playing for the Orlando Pirates academy, you could tell that he was a very aggressive young boy that obviously needed to grow within the game.
“I don’t think he’s the type of a person that actually takes into consideration that I’m playing against a big name or whatsoever. He doesn’t care about that. He’s just a big, young boy.
He grew up in Zululand and he’s just a very, very aggressive young boy. He’s a type of a player that really likes to compete. He doesn’t want to lose the battle at all. I mean, you can see from his tackles, his duels, everything on the field. He just wants to be the winner.
“I don’t think it’s a big issue or it’s sort of like a wow thing for him to be playing against big names. So whatever player he comes across, that’s the reason why they gave him the nickname TLB.
“Here in South Africa we have nine provinces and in those nine provinces you get different types of players. So those who grow up in kzn, they are very, very physical, they have very big muscles and you know, they’re huge. So that’s an advantage for him at this age. That’s one reason why he can compete. Because in South Africa we are at a disadvantage. We don’t have tall, big, young boys, at the moment we have boys who are a little bit skinny and you need to work on them when you’re conditioning them.
“But with Mbokazi, physically, he’s a player that is complete. The only thing that you need to do is just to develop him because this is his first time playing outside South Africa. Slowly but surely he will become one of the greatest players in the world.”
