Chicago Fire FC earned a 2-2 draw against Austin FC in the second match of the 2026 Coachella Valley Invitational on Wednesday afternoon at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California.
Defender Andrew Gutman opened his preseason account with the opening goal of the match off a corner kick in the first half. Backline teammate Jack Elliott bookended the match with another set piece tally with eight minutes remaining to keep the Fire unbeaten in four preseason matches.
Chicago got off to another hot start in Coachella with a corner kick in the 12th minute. Zinckernagel lofted a cross into the far side of the box, where center back Joel Waterman flicked it across the six-yard box to Gutman. The left back slammed home the pass to give the Fire a 1-0 lead.
Austin tied it up with a deflected long-range effort from midfielder Robert Taylor in the 26th minute, then took the lead 20 minutes into the second half with a goal from newcomer Jayden Nelson. But with eight minutes left in the match, Schaumburg, Ill. native Chris Mueller dropped a corner kick from the right to the top of the six-yard box, where Elliott finished the play with a header to wrap up the scoring in the draw.
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Box Score:
Chicago Fire FC 2:2 Austin FC
Goals:
CHI - Gutman (1) (Waterman 1) 12’
ATX - Taylor (1) 27’
ATX - Nelson (1) 65’
CHI - Elliott (1) (Mueller 1) 82’
Discipline:
ATX - Svatok (Caution) 33’
CHI - Oregel Jr. (Caution) 48’
ATX - Thomas (Caution) 54’
CHI - Glasgow (Caution) 87’
Chicago Fire FC: GK Brady (Cohen, 46‘), D Barroso (Dean, 46‘), D Waterman (capt.) (Rogers, 46‘), D Mbokazi (Elliott, 46‘), D Gutman (Glasgow, 46’), M Lod (Pineda, 46‘), M D’Avilla (Cupps, 46‘), M Salétros (Oregel Jr., 46‘), M Haile-Selassie (Dithejane, 46‘; Hlyut, 71’), F Shokalook (Poreba, 46‘), F Zinckernagel (Mueller, 46‘)
Subs not used: GK Gal
Head Coach: Gregg Berhalter
Austin FC: GK Las, D Bell (Hines-Ike, 63’), D Gallagher (Djordjević, 40’), D Kolmanic (Nelson, 63’), D Rosales (Thomas, 40’), D Svatok (Dubersarsky, 40’), M Pereira, M Ilie Sánchez (Sabovic, 40’), M Taylor (Biro, 63’), M F. Torres (Badawiya, 40’), F Uzuni
Subs not used: GK Stuver, M Alastuey, M E. Torres, F Fodrey
Head Coach: Nico Estévez
Referee: Muhammad Kaleia
Assistant Referees: Mike Nickerson, Bennett Savage
Fourth Official: Abdou Ndiaye
Venue: Empire Polo Club (Indio, Calif.)