Union defender Olwethu Makhanya passes the ball during Sunday's playoff game with the Chicago Fire. (Courtesy of Philadelphia Union) Courtesy Philadelphia Union
CHESTER – In a year of surprising development on the field, Olwethu Makhanya has learned quickly how to adapt to new things.
The latest new phenomenon for the 21-year-old Union center back is a wave of adulation as the MLS regular season wound down.
Makhanya was a chic pick by some for MLS Best 11, even as teammates Jakob Glesnes and Kai Wagner finished second and third, respectively, as finalists for MLS Defender of the Year. Makhanya was voted 13th in the annual 22 Under 22 rankings assembled by MLS’s website.
All this for a player who this time last year was playing regularly for Union II but hadn’t sniffed the field for the first team.
“When I saw a lot of people talking about me potentially being in the best 11 or being in the conversation of Defender of the Year, that was like, OK, that's huge,” Makhanya said Thursday. “To be part of those conversations, it's really huge for me.”
The center back ticked off another first in a season full of them with last Sunday’s playoff debut, going the full 90 for the Union in a 2-2 draw with the Chicago Fire that the Union won, 4-2, in penalty kicks. He’s a safe bet to start Saturday at Soldier Field as the Union look to close out the best-of-3 series against the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The first MLS Cup playoff affair was an eye-opener for Makhanya. The game was dead for the better part of an hour, Chicago successfully defending deep and taking the air out of the ball whenever possible. The Union scored in the 70th and 75th minute and looked to have the first victory chalked up.
But two set-piece concessions in the 84th minute and the third minute of stoppage time drove home a point to Makhanya that playoff soccer is different.
“Chicago fought until the last whistle,” Makhanya said. “It doesn't happen as often in the regular season, teams fighting until the last whistle. For them to come back towards the end of the game, that was kind of shocking, because we thought the game was done, and the next thing we were taking penalties.”
There’s been a lot of lessons this year, and the South African seems to have picked them up seamlessly. Makhanya was signed in the summer of 2023 from Stellenbosch, but it wasn’t until opening night in 2025 that he debuted in a competitive match for the first time. He had played four games for Union II in the balance of 2023, then was used exclusively by the reserve team in 2024.
He made the bench 20 times in all competitions in Jim Curtin’s final season as head coach without earning a single minute. Instead of turning to the young defender, Curtin ran Jack Elliott and Glesnes into the ground, especially after Damion Lowe’s August departure. The Union finished the season 0-3-1, cratered to 12th in the East and missed the playoffs for the first time in 2017. Curtin was let go at the end of the season, and Bradley Carnell was hired with an explicit mandate to better cultivate depth.
Makhanya, meanwhile, logged nearly 2,000 minutes at Union II, starting 22 matches and scoring one goal. The Union let Elliott walk in free agency — to Chicago, where he’s the captain and scored Sunday but missed a penalty kick — and began the season with one center back in Glesnes who had ever played an MLS game. Second on the depth chart was Argentine loanee Ian Glavinovich, who was injured in preseason, then tore his meniscus in early April, landing on the season-ending injury list. Fourth on the depth chart was 18-year-old Homegrown Neil Pierre, who’d only played 28 games with Union II.
Makhanya had to play. And he shined.
“It's incredible the trajectory that he's had, playing Next Pro last year and stepping in when we were really struggling at center back through preseason,” Carnell said Sunday. “I've always spoken about, through the misfortune of others, paves a new pathway and starts a career of somebody. Frankie (Westfield) and Olwethu fall in that category, and they haven't looked back since.
“We've created the steps. We've created the roster that, everyone had question marks going into it. Now, these game experiences are vital for them.”
Makhanya has started 23 games and played in 29 – all but two of the 31 for which he was available. He’s logged 2,145 minutes, plus every second of the Union’s four-game run to the U.S. Open Cup semifinal. Shy of two red cards, he’s been generally excellent, an anchor for a team that won the Supporters’ Shield for only the second trophy in club history and finished first in MLS with 35 goals allowed in 34 games. (Makhanya was suspended for the 7-0 walloping by the Whitecaps.)
The push for a trophy is paying off in postseason preparation. Defending pole position in the standings for much of the last two months of the season weighted games with a playoff-like pressure, which Makhanya came to recognize on Sunday.
“From the start of the regular season, we were at the top,” he said. “So throughout the whole season, we've always had the pressure from the teams behind us, because we knew we're at the top, all the teams behind us are hunting us. We've been under pressure, so it kind of has prepared us.”
Makhanya's time in Chester illustrates how quickly things can change. His age and ability will make him a tantalizing prospect for bigger clubs sooner rather than later. “The way Makhanya is playing at the moment, he's years ahead of his development right now, just in terms of the spike in his development this year,” Carnell said.
So he’s taking the praise in stride. He knows how rare it is for plaudits to find a center back. He’s using it to double down on his focus to keep taking steps forward.
“It feels good,” he said. “It’s a proud moment for me. But at the same time, it's a reason for me to keep going, because if I get all these compliments, I work hard and then I get recognized, it means a lot to me. And it's just another reason to just keep going.”
