{"id":973497,"date":"2026-08-01T12:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T12:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/973497\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T12:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T12:41:13","slug":"matchday-chicago-fire-fc-faces-charlotte-fc-in-return-to-soldier-field-following-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/973497\/","title":{"rendered":"Matchday | Chicago Fire FC Faces Charlotte FC in Return to Soldier Field Following Break"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n      Match Information<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chicago Fire FC<\/strong>\u00a0(8-6-2, 26 points)\u00a0<strong>vs. Charlotte FC<\/strong>\u00a0(7-6-4, 25 points)<br \/>Saturday, August 1, 2026<br \/>7:30 p.m. CT<br \/>Soldier Field \u2013 Chicago<\/p>\n<p><strong>How to Watch:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tv.apple.com\/us\/channel\/mls\/tvs.sbd.7000\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Apple TV<\/a><br \/>English: Nate Bukaty &amp; Devon Kerr<br \/>Spanish: Alejandro Figueredo &amp; Tony Cherchi<\/p>\n<p><strong>How to Listen:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wlsam.com\/chicago-fire-fc\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WLS 890 AM<\/a>\u00a0\/\/\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagofirefc.com\/fans\/radio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TUDN Chicago 106.7-HD2<\/a><br \/>English: Rudy Hodgson &amp; Joe Chatz<br \/>Spanish: Omar Ramos &amp; Teresa Limon<\/p>\n<p>\n      <strong>Match Preview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chicago Fire FC makes its long-awaited return to Soldier Field to take on Charlotte FC on Saturday, August 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After a postponed homecoming match at the lakefront, the Fire opened the second half of the season with two consecutive road matches against the 2025 Eastern Conference finalists: Inter Miami CF and New York City FC.<\/p>\n<p>Following a 3-2 loss in South Florida on July 22, Chicago traveled to the Bronx for a road match against New York City on Saturday, July 25. The hosts scored first before Anton Sal\u00e9tros sent a free kick into the box that deflected into the path of Joel Waterman, who leveled the score with his left foot. But New York City reclaimed the lead in the 29th minute, adding a third to secure the final scoreline in the 40th minute before its defense finished off the match.<\/p>\n<p>Charlotte opened the second half with a 2-2 draw against Atlanta United FC at Bank of America Stadium, before playing across the Hudson River in Harrison against Red Bull New York II. Despite being outshot 23-5 by New York, two goals scored before the quarter hour mark were all Charlotte FC needed in a 2-0 clean sheet on the road.<\/p>\n<p><strong>All-Time MLS Regular Season Record vs. CLT:<\/strong>\u00a0(3-5-0)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Last Game vs. CLT:<\/strong>\u00a0June 28, 2025 (3-2 W) \u2013 Soldier Field \u2013 Chicago (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagofirefc.com\/news\/match-recap-chicago-fire-fc-wraps-homestand-with-3-2-victory-over-charlotte-fc-at-soldier-field\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Match Recap<\/a>)<br \/><strong>Last Game at CLT:<\/strong>\u00a0May 17, 2025 (4-1 W) \u2013 Bank of America Stadium \u2013 Charlotte, N.C. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagofirefc.com\/news\/match-recap-chicago-fire-fc-kicks-off-road-trip-with-4-1-victory-at-charlotte-fc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Match Recap<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>\n      <strong>Hyundai Keys to the Match:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sweet Home Chicago:<\/strong>\u00a0Let\u2019s try this again: more than two months after their last home match, the Fire are back at Soldier Field. The Men in Red will be anxious to play in front of a home crowd that is sure to be rocking from first kick.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Headliner:<\/strong>\u00a0After making his league debut on the road, Robert Lewandowski is eager to make his first appearance in Chicago. His home debut could also bring another first: a goal in Fire red.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Set Fire to the Reign<\/strong>:\u00a0Charlotte FC arrives in Chicago unbeaten in its last two matches. But the Crown dropped their last two against the Fire, including a 3-2 loss at Soldier Field in June 2025. Can the Men in Red make it three losses in a row?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\n      Match Notes<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Saturday night\u2019s matchup will be the ninth between Chicago and Charlotte in regular season play and first of 2026. Charlotte leads the all-time series 5-3-0, but the Fire took both matches in 2025 with a combined score of 7-3.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Zinckernagel also leads all current Fire players with three goal contributions in two matches against Charlotte, scoring and assisting in the last match against the Queen City, a 3-2 win at Soldier Field on June 28, 2025. Robin Lod, Jonathan Bamba and Mauricio Pineda each have a goal in the series, with Lod also having two assists in the only match he played against the Crown in 2024.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Match Information Chicago Fire FC\u00a0(8-6-2, 26 points)\u00a0vs. Charlotte FC\u00a0(7-6-4, 25 points)Saturday, August 1, 20267:30 p.m. CTSoldier Field \u2013&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":973498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,12420,390731,5386,1818,12419,249917,50,12421],"class_list":["post-973497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-fire-fc","tag-chivsclt-08-01-2026","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-match-preview","tag-matchday-guide","tag-news","tag-us-major-league-soccer"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117020307310940910","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=973497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/973498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=973497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=973497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=973497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}