{"id":839840,"date":"2026-08-02T13:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T13:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/839840\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T13:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T13:06:11","slug":"robert-lewandowski-strikes-twice-for-chicago-fire-in-mls-win-over-charlotte-mls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/839840\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Lewandowski strikes twice for Chicago Fire in MLS win over Charlotte | MLS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert Lewandowski scored two goals on his home debut as the Chicago Fire eked out a 2-1 victory over Charlotte FC on \u2060Saturday. The win is Chicago\u2019s first in Major League Soccer since the end of the international break.<\/p>\n

Lewandowski, signed in late June as a free agent, produced a vintage performance to help the Fire (9-6-2, 29 points) close an ever-narrowing gap with the Eastern Conference\u2019s top three clubs. Charlotte (7-7-4, 25pts) has now lost four of its last five road matches.<\/p>\n

Pep \u2060Biel opened the scoring in the 18th minute for Charlotte. After playing a one-two with Idan \u200bToklomati at the top of the box, \u200cthe Spanish attacker sped past his marker and \u200crifled his shot past Chicago goalkeeper Chris Brady into the top right corner. The goal was Biel\u2019s \u200cteam-leading ninth of the season.<\/p>\n

Lewandowski responded just two minutes later, scoring his first goal in a Chicago uniform. Jonathan Bamba lofted a through-ball to Philip Zinckernagel, who headed it to an incoming Lewandowski. After faking a shot, Lewandowski put the ball on his right foot and slotted into the bottom \u200cleft corner, past goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Fire almost took the lead when Zinckernagel found Robin Lod open in the box. However, the Finnish midfielder couldn\u2019t steer his shot on \u200btarget at such a steep angle, and Lewandowski could not connect with the ball at the far post.<\/p>\n

In the 56th minute, Lewandowski played a pinpoint through-ball to a streaking Zinckernagel, setting him \u2060up for a one-on-one with Kahlina. Zinckernagel took one too many touches \u200bas he neared the keeper, who deflected his tight-angle shot away.<\/p>\n

Chicago found the go-ahead goal in the 68th minute \u200bwhen Andrew Gutman found Lod \u200cjust outside the \u200bbox in transition. Lod \u200bplayed Lewandowski in with a through ball, and the former Dortmund, Bayern Munich and Barcelona striker beat Kahlina at close range for his second goal of the game.<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi returned to MLS action on Saturday, coming on in the second half as his Inter Miami side drew 2-2 with Columbus Crew. The Argentina star could not mark his return with a goal, though, twice shooting wide.<\/p>\n

Luis Su\u00e1rez celebrates after opening the scoring for Inter Miami. Photograph: Marta Lavandier\/AP<\/p>\n

Luis Su\u00e1rez scored his seventh goal in his last four games to put Miami 1-0 up in the 16th minute, but Casemiro scored an own goal to draw Columbus level. Su\u00e1rez then set up Noah Allen to head the hosts back in fronts, but midfielder Brais M\u00e9ndez levelled again with a late free-kick on his debut for the Crew.<\/p>\n

Tai Baribo scored in the 77th minute to cap a second-half rally from two goals down as DC United earned \u2060a 2-2 home draw against Eastern Conference leaders Nashville SC.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | Twice weekly<\/p>\n

Sign up to Soccer Desk<\/p>\n

Jonathan Wilson and Guardian journalists bring expert analysis and reporting on the biggest stories in soccer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sam Surridge\u2019s penalty and Shakur Mohammed\u2019s strike came eight minutes apart in the first half for Nashville, but Silvan Hefti volleyed in from a corner to make it 2-1 in the 56th minute. Baribo levelled for DC United when his shot from out wide beat Nashville keeper Bryan Schwake.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideMLS resultsShow<\/p>\n

New York City 1-1 Toronto; DC United 2-2 Nashville; Inter Miami 2-2 Columbus; Montr\u00e9al 2-2 New England; New York Red Bulls 3-2 Orlando; Philadelphia Union 3-2 Atlanta United; Vancouver Whitecaps 1-1 LAFC; Chicago 2-1 Charlotte; Sporting KC 0-2 Houston Dynamo; Minnesota United 1-1 San Diego; St Louis City 1-1 Real Salt Lake; Colorado Rapids 1-0 Austin; Cincinnati 4-2 Sane Jose; LA Galaxy 0-0 Dallas; Portland Timbers 2-1 Seattle Sounders.<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

Thomas M\u00fcller\u2019s penalty secured a 1-1 draw for the Vancouver Whitecaps against LAFC on the team\u2019s return to BC Place Stadium. Son Heung-min had fired the visitors ahead with a neat turn and shot, but M\u00fcller won and converted a 76th-minute spot-kick after he was hauled down in the box by defender Yevhen Cheberko.<\/p>\n

Brandon Bye scored the winning goal in the 82nd minute as the Portland Timbers handed the Seattle Sounders their sixth straight loss. Kevin Kelsey also scored for the Timbers, who are undefeated in four games after this 2-1 win. Kalani Kossa-Rienzi scored for the Sounders, who are dealing with a spate of injuries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robert Lewandowski scored two goals on his home debut as the Chicago Fire eked out a 2-1 victory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-839840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}