Chicago Fire FC prevailed 2-0 against Club Necaxa in the Club’s opening match of Leagues Cup 2026 on Thursday night at SeatGeek Stadium. Defenders Jonathan Dean and Andrew Gutman both scored to give the Fire their first three points in this year’s edition of the tournament.
Chicago took the lead at the half-hour mark when midfielder Anton Salétros strolled down the center of the park before swinging left to an overlapping Sergio Oregel Jr. The Homegrown midfielder whipped a cross into the box that deflected into the path of Dean, who tucked a left-footed shot into the near post for the opener.
Trailing by a goal, Necaxa sought an equalizer, forcing goalkeeper Chris Brady into recording six strong saves. The defensive effort propelled an attack that created 20 shots, eight of them on-target, including Gutman’s lone strike of the match in the 69th minute. Oregel Jr. took off on a counter before dumping the ball off to Salétros. The Swedish midfielder then swung the ball in the path of a late-arriving Gutman, who settled with his left before finishing with his right to finish the scoring at 2-0.
NEXT MATCH: Chicago Fire FC will play the second of three Leagues Cup 2026 Phase One matches against Club Santos Laguna on Sunday, Aug. 9. Kickoff at SeatGeek Stadium is scheduled at 7 p.m. CT and will be broadcast globally on Apple TV.
Match Notes:
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Jonathan Dean and Andrew Gutman scored the second and third goals by Chicago Fire FC defenders in Leagues Cup play. Fellow fullback Arnaud Souquet scored a game-tying goal in a 3-2 victory at Minnesota United FC in the 2023 edition.
- The match was Chicago’s first against Club Necaxa in any competition. With the victory, Chicago is now 2-4-1-0 in Leagues Cup and 5-13-5 against Liga MX sides in Club history.
- Winger Chris Mueller (Not Due to Injury), defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi (Lower Body) and midfielder André Franco (Lower Body) were unavailable for selection on Thursday night.
Social: Twitter - @chicagofire, @vamosfire (Hashtags: #cf97 #VamosFire) | Instagram - @chicagofire | Facebook
Box Score:
Chicago Fire FC 2:0 Club Necaxa
Goals:
CHI - Dean (1) (WATCH) 31’
CHI - Gutman (1) (Salétros 1) (WATCH) 69’
Discipline:
NCX - Martínez (Caution) 23’
NCX - Zaleta (Caution) 61’
NCX - Leyva (Caution) 61’
NCX - Varini (Ejection) 78’
Chicago Fire FC: GK Brady, D Dean, D Rogers, D Elliott, D Gutman, M D’Avilla, M Oregel Jr. (Poreba, 89’), M Salétros (Pineda, 81’), F Zinckernagel (Bamba, 64’), F Lewandowski (Lod, 64’), F Dithejane (Haile-Selassie, 81’)
Subs not used: GK Gal, GK Cohen, D Barroso, D Radojević, D Cupps, M Turdean, F Shokalook
Head Coach: Gregg Berhalter
Club Necaxa: GK Jiménez, D Rodríguez (González, 46’), D Naves, D E. Martínez, D Oliveros, M Faravelli (Cortéz, 68’), M Zaleta, M Leyva (Pedraza, 88’), F Torres (Espindola, 78’), F Carranza, F Ruíz (Valencia, 88’)
Subs not used: GK Andrade, GK Orantes, D Peña, D Méndez, D Vargas
Head Coach: Martín Varini
Stats Summary: CHI / NCX
Shots: 20 / 15
Shots on Goal: 8 / 6
Saves: 6 / 6
Passing Accuracy: 87.2% / 87.9%
Corners: 6 / 3
Fouls: 13 / 10
Offsides: 2 / 0
Possession: 45.9% / 54.1%
Venue: SeatGeek Stadium (Bridgeview, Ill.)
Attendance: 9,005
Referee: Katia Itzel García Mendoza
Assistant Referees: Ryan Graves, Ibrahim Martinez Chavarria
Fourth Official: Carly Shaw-MacLaren
VAR: Michel Radchuk
AVAR: Jose Carlos Rivero