South African winger Bongokuhle Hlongwane scored a brace to etch his name in the history books of Minnesota United as his side claimed a 3-1 victory over Houston in the Major League Soccer (MLS) on Thursday morning.

With his mother and young brother in attendance, the former Maritzburg United (now Durban City) talisman opened the scoring for Minnesota, one minute after the hour mark, and ran to the stands to celebrate with his family.

It didn’t take long for Hlongwane to double his tally in the match as he completed his brace two minutes later, before Robin Lod made it 3-0. The visitors pulled one back in stoppage time through on-loan Fluminense star Felipe Andrade.

In a man of the match winning performance, the 25-year-old forward helped his team to climb up the standings in the 15-team Western Conference of the MLS and strengthened their chances of taking part in the championship playoffs.

In contrast to Njabulo Blom’s Saint Louis City, who are languishing in 14th place in the same conference group, Minnesota is currently in third place with 33 points accumulated from 19 matches played, with nine wins, six draws, and four defeats.

Meanwhile, Hlongwane, who had one goal in his first 18 appearances this season as a right wingback, was interestingly playing as one of the wide forwards in former Manchester United assistant coach Eric Ramsay’s 5-4-1 system.

Now, the Bafana international has scored three goals and provided two assists in 20 matches across all competitions this season, starting 16 of those encounters. With his recent exploits, the player reached a significant milestone for Minnesota.

Following his double, Hlongwane surpassed Emmanuel Reynoso for the second-most regular season goals in the club’s history, as he took his overall goal tally to 24 since completing his move to the United States of America (USA).

The KZN-born star signed for Minnesota in January 2022, penning a three-year deal upon his arrival.

The player recently extended his stay to December 2027 with an option to extend for a further 12 months in his recent renewal in November 2024.