CHICAGO FIRE FC 2-1 CHARLOTTE FC
Aug 1, 2026
Att. 32,183 • Soldier Field
CHICAGO — Robert Lewandowski scored a brace in his Fire home debut to lift the Chicago Fire past Charlotte 2-1 on Saturday night at Soldier Field.
Charlotte scored first when Pep Biel scored in the 18th minute, but Chicago equalized just 93 seconds later as Jonathan Bamba's ball found Philip Zinckernagel's head, who redirected it to Lewandowski, who took two touches and converted from just outside the box for his first career MLS goal.
Lewandowski scored again in the 68th minute, which capped a buildup of more than 25 passes: Andrew Gutman's cross found Robin Lod, who set up an overlapping Lewandowski to chip a shot past Charlotte keeper Kristijan Kahlina for the game winner. The win improved Chicago to 9-6-2 (29 points) while Charlotte fell to 7-6-5 (25 points). Lewandowski became just the fourth player in Fire history to score multiple goals in his home debut.
Chicago outshot Charlotte 14-5 on target and finished with 8 corners to Charlotte's 6. Chicago goalkeeper Chris Brady picked up the win in his 50th career regular season start at Soldier Field.
- Jason Capota
