Chicago Fire FC tallied three unanswered second half goals in a 3-1 defeat of Santos Laguna on Sunday night at SeatGeek Stadium. The victory gave Chicago six points through two matches in Leagues Cup 2026.
Chicago fell behind in the 20th minute when midfielder Diego González spotted forward Ezequiel Bullaude running behind the backline. A deflection fell in Bullaude’s favor, who dribbled away from goal before chipping in the opener from beyond the 18-yard-box.
The Santos backline held its ground through 72 minutes before the Men in Red finally answered. Midfielder Sergio Oregel Jr. picked off a pass outside the Fire box and advanced it into the attacking half. After a series of touches, Oregel slipped to Robin Lod, who laid off to Puso Dithejane to dribble through the box before dumping off to Philip Zinckernagel. The Danish winger feigned a shot before blasting home the equalizer through traffic.
As the clock turned to minute 90, second-half substitution Andrew Gutman turned to Dithejane in the Santos box to cross over to Anton Salétros. The Swedish midfielder brought down the ball and directed a shot off Lod and away from goalkeeper Carlos Acevedo to give the Fire a 2-1 lead with seconds left in regulation.
With momentum on their side, the Fire closed out the game for good as Zinckernagel combined with forward Robert Lewandowski to set up a one-on-one with Acevedo. Although the Mexican goalkeeper saved Zinckernagel’s shot, the rebound was collected by Lewandowski and sent into an open net to complete the comeback in front of a jubilant supporters’ section.
NEXT MATCH: Chicago Fire FC will finish out Phase One of Leagues Cup 2026 with a primetime matchup against defending Liga MX champions Cruz Azul on Thursday, Aug. 13. Kickoff at SeatGeek Stadium is scheduled at 8 p.m. CT and will be broadcast globally on Apple TV.
Match Notes:
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With his start in tonight’s match, Homegrown midfielder Robert Turdean became the youngest player to appear and start in a match for Chicago Fire FC in any competition at 16 years and 207 days of age. This breaks the previous Club record set by Craig Capano in an MLS regular season match against D.C. United on May 4, 2002 (16 years, 301 days).
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Forward Robert Lewandowski scored his third goal in his last three matches across all competitions for Chicago. His first goal in Leagues Cup sealed the result in stoppage time after playing the full 90 for the second time in three games.
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Anton Salétros received the game ball in the locker room for his performance in the victory. The Swedish midfielder recorded his second assist in as many Leagues Cup 2026, this time in game-winning fashion.
- The match was Chicago’s second against Santos Laguna in all competitions, having previously played in a friendly in 2012 that finished 2-2, also in comeback fashion. With the victory, Chicago is now 3-4-1-0 in Leagues Cup and 6-13-5 against Liga MX sides in Club history.
Social: Twitter - @chicagofire, @vamosfire (Hashtags: #cf97 #VamosFire) | Instagram - @chicagofire | Facebook
Box Score:
Chicago Fire FC 3:1 Santos Laguna
Goals:
SAN - Bullaude (1) (WATCH) 20’
CHI - Zinckernagel (1) (WATCH) 72’
CHI - Lod (1) (Salétros 2) (WATCH) 90’
CHI - Lewandowski (1) (WATCH) 90 +3’
Discipline:
SAN - Mariscal (Caution) 28’
SAN - Bullaude (Caution) 54’
CHI - Elliott (Caution) 78’
SAN - Abella (Caution) 79’
CHI - Waterman (Caution) 90+5’
Chicago Fire FC: GK Brady, D Barroso (Dithejane 69’), D Waterman, D Elliott (capt.), D Radojević (Gutman, 46’), M Pineda (Lod 69’), M Salétros, M Turdean (Oregel Jr., 46’), F Haile-Selassie, F Lewandowski, F Bamba (Zinckernagel, 46’)
Subs not used: GK Gal, GK Cohen, D Rogers, D Dean, D Cupps, M Poreba, M D’Avilla
Head Coach: Gregg Berhalter
Santos Laguna: GK Acevedo, D Cuevas (Abella, 61’), D Sánchez, D A. López, D Orona, M Echeverría, M Mariscal (Güemez, 83’), M Bullaude, M Villalba (Medina, 68’), M González (M. Lopez, 83’), F Aguirre (Di Yorio 61’)
Subs not used: GK Holguín, GK Barajas, D Pardo, D Picón, M Gruezo, M Mancha, M Palacios
Head Coach: Renato Paiva
Stats Summary: CHI / SAN
Shots: 25 / 8
Shots on Goal: 6 / 3
Saves: 2 / 3
Passing Accuracy: 88.2% / 76.6%
Corners: 7 / 2
Fouls: 12 / 11
Offsides: 2 / 5
Possession: 62.6% / 37.4%
Venue: SeatGeek Stadium (Bridgeview, Ill.)
Attendance: 14,341
Referee: Reginald Gumbs
Assistant Referees: Zachari Zeegelaar, Clinton Hayward
Fourth Official: Ismael Cornejo
VAR: Benjamin Whitty
AVAR: Oscar Macias