Chicago conceded two goals in nine minutes to Houston’s Guilherme as they struggled to create much of anything after halftime at Shell Energy Stadium
The Chicago Fire came out completely flat after halftime and conceded twice in nine minutes to the Houston Dynamo’s Guilherme as they dropped their season opener 2-1 on the road.
Chicago scored before halftime through Hugo Cuypers after the Fire’s striker intercepted a pass in Houston’s half of the pitch but only generated a single shot after halftime while the Dynamo struck twice to open the season with a win in Texas.
Chicago were the stronger side by far in the opening 45 minutes but the second half was, to quote Chicago Fire head coach and director of football Gregg Berhalter after the match, simply a “very poor performance.”
That Fire performed well to start the match and looked as though they were going to take the lead in the 18th minute. Anton Salétros, who was wearing the captain’s armband in his MLS debut after signing with Chicago in the offseason from AIK in Sweden, found the open Maren Haile-Selassie open in Houston’s penalty area but Houston goalkeeper Jonathan Bond positioned himself well enough to make the save with his face to keep things scoreless.
Chicago got their only goal of the game in the 31st minute and it came directly from a Houston mistake.
Story continues below.
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Mateusz Bogusz, who signed with Houston in the offseason from Cruz Azul for about $10 million, played a terrible pass back into the Dynamo’s half of the pitch that was intercepted by Hugo Cuypers, who immediately started dribbling the ball toward Houston’s goal. Cuypers cut to his left once he got into the Dynamo’s penalty area before firing a left-footed effort past the outstretched Jonathan Bond, giving Chicago a 1-0 lead that they’d take into the halftime break.
The Fire weren’t up for it after halftime and were lucky to not concede less than a minute into the second 45. Mateusz Bogusz got the ball near the endline in Chicago’s penalty area and played a great ball across the face of goal that no defender knocked away, but no Houston player was there and the Fire got away without conceding quickly.
Jack McGlynn played a great through ball from his own half of the pitch for Guilherme, who joined Houston in the offseason as a Designated Player from Santos in Brazil, to chase down in the Fire’s half. Guilherme got in behind Sam Rogers and beat Chris Brady to the goalkeeper’s left, tying the match at one.
Houston almost took the lead through Bogusz in the 70th minute when his effort rang off the post but they finally got the 2-1 advantage in the 77th minute through Guilherme. Chris Brady saved Ezequel Ponce’s effort from the center of the 18 but the rebound fell perfectly for the unmarked Guilherme, who tapped in his close-range effort to give his side the 2-1 lead for good.
Chicago brought on Puso Dithejane and Sergio Oregel Jr. as late enforcements for Mbekezeli Mbokazi and Dje D’Avilla, respectively in the 88th minute but those late changes were not enough to create attacking chances as the Fire dropped the opener on the road.
The Fire’s boss didn’t mince words after his side’s lackluster performance after halftime.
“It’s a good lesson for us,” Berhalter said We stopped playing and came out of the locker room and it was like we stayed in the locker room. Really, no movement for each other. Houston, as they bring the pressure, we have to play behind them. We don’t play behind them, we give each other balls in difficult positions, and just basically lack of movement.
“It’s like we were on autopilot, and for us, it’s I think a good lesson. If we go out and we play at half speed, we’re a below average team. When you see in the first half, when we play with real tempo, it’s a really good product. But unfortunately the second half was a very poor performance.”
The Fire weren’t ready for the moment in the second half, which irked Berhalter.
“it’s about the moment. So there’s going to be moments when you’re playing away from home and the home team gets the advantage, and I think that’s fine. We just have to be smart in those moments, and we weren’t in today’s game.
“I was very critical of Chris Brady and his decision-making and build up from goalkeeper. They are building their pressure and we need to move the field up. We need to get the team up and we can kick from a close position. You know, we’re playing into their hands, bringing seven guys forward to press us. And give them credit. They have earned this victory. Houston did a great job in the second half but a lot of this is — I mean, a lot of what we’re looking at can be improved.”
Anton Salétros saw a lot that the Fire need to improve upon after their season-opening loss.
“It’s game management. We need to realize soccer is a grown-up game. We cannot go out and think that the first half is going to be like the second half, when we had good control and playing and controlling the game. We need to realize the games can change quick, especially in this league, in MLS.
“So we need to be ready for that and [focus on] game management. If it requires we need to go up longer or take time on the ball or whatever, we need to read that, we need to communicate that better as a team if you want to win things. Because yeah, you can be good on the ball and everything can be good when it’s nice. But in those difficult times, you need to be a bit stronger and read the game better.
Salétros, Mbokazi and Dithejane made their MLS debuts against Houston and Chris Mueller’s appearance off the bench was his first in MLS after missing 2025 after being diagnosed with pericarditis.
Starting 11: Chris Brady (GK), Maren Haile-Selassie, Mbekezeli Mbokazi, Joel Waterman, Sam Rogers, Leonardo Barroso, Dje D’Avilla, Anton Salétros (C), Philip Zinckernagel, Robin Lod and Hugo Cuypers
Substitution at 76’: Christopher Cupps and Chris Mueller on for Sam Rogers and Robin Lod
Substitution at 88’: Sergio Oregel Jr. and Puso Dithejane on for Dje D’Avilla and Mbekezeli Mbokazi
Unused Subs: Josh Cohen (GK), Mauricio Pineda, David Poreba and Jason Shokalook
Attendance: 20,068
What’s On Tap Next?
The Fire will host CF Montréal for their home opener at Soldier Field on February 28 with kickoff scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CT