{"id":173558,"date":"2026-02-20T23:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T23:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/173558\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T23:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T23:40:08","slug":"match-preview-houston-dynamo-fc-launch-2026-mls-campaign-hosting-chicago-fire-fc-at-shell-energy-stadium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/173558\/","title":{"rendered":"MATCH PREVIEW: Houston Dynamo FC launch 2026 MLS campaign hosting Chicago Fire FC at Shell Energy Stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON (Feb. 20, 2026) \u2013 Houston Dynamo FC\u00a0launch their 2026 MLS regular season campaign on Saturday, Feb. 21, hosting Eastern Conference opponent Chicago Fire FC at\u00a0Shell Energy Stadium, with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT.<\/p>\n

Fans can secure tickets for the match\u00a0HERE<\/a>, and can check out the Club\u2019s Community First Ticket Offers and Value Menu for the 2026 season\u00a0HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Houston is 10-2-8 (WLD) in 20 regular season home openers since their inaugural MLS season in 2006. The Club is unbeaten in 13 of their 14 home openers at Shell Energy Stadium, posting an 8-1-5 (WLD) record since 2012.<\/p>\n

The Dynamo revamped their roster with several significant signings over the course of this offseason, highlighted by two Designated Players in Polish international attacker\u00a0Mateusz\u00a0Bogusz\u00a0and forward\u00a0Guilherme, the former captain of Brazil\u2019s Santos FC. Houston also added defender\u00a0Lucas\u00a0Halter\u00a0and midfielder\u00a0Agust\u00edn\u00a0Bouzat, both former captains at top South American clubs who bring leadership and winning pedigree. Former Dynamo captain\u00a0H\u00e9ctor\u00a0Herrera\u00a0returns after lifting three trophies with Toluca in Liga MX, reinforcing the team\u2019s core with elite experience. Forward\u00a0NickMarkanich, the 2024 USL Championship Player of the Year, joins on loan from Spain\u2019s CD Castell\u00f3n, while defender\u00a0Franco\u00a0Negri\u00a0arrives after helping Inter Miami CF capture the 2023 Leagues Cup title and secure their first-ever Supporters’ Shield in 2024, while most recently helping San Diego FC finish atop the 2025 Western Conference standings during the team\u2019s inaugural season.<\/p>\n

The team also returns a strong core from last season, including midfielder\u00a0Artur, defender\u00a0Felipe Andrade, goalkeeper\u00a0Jonathan\u00a0Bond, defender\u00a0Ant\u00f4nio\u00a0Carlos, forward\u00a0Lawrence\u00a0Ennali, midfielder\u00a0Ond\u0159ej\u00a0Lingr, midfielder\u00a0JackMcGlynn, forward\u00a0Ezequiel\u00a0Ponce\u00a0and defender\u00a0Erik\u00a0Sviatchenko.<\/p>\n

Additional offseason signings include Homegrown Players goalkeeper\u00a0Logan\u00a0Erb, the 18th\u00a0Dynamo Academy product to sign with the first team, and defender\u00a0Reese\u00a0Miller, the 19th.<\/p>\n

On the technical staff, the Dynamo added two new assistant coaches, including former MLS goalkeeper\u00a0Preston\u00a0Burpoand\u00a0Marcelo\u00a0Santos, who joins head coach\u00a0Ben\u00a0Olsen\u2019s\u00a0staff from Houston Dynamo 2.<\/p>\n

Houston recently closed out its undefeated preseason campaign by claiming the inaugural\u00a0**Torneo de Tejas**\u00a0title<\/a>\u00a0with a 3-2 victory over the New York Red Bulls at Shell Energy Stadium during the 2026 Dynamo Season Kickoff Fan Fest, behind a hat trick from Guilherme. The Dynamo finished atop the four-team table with eight points and a 2-0-1 (WLD) record, also earning points versus Atlanta United FC and in-state rivals FC Dallas.<\/p>\n

The Dynamo hold an 11-9-8 (WLD) all-time record and have scored 39 goals versus Chicago, including a most recent 2-0 home victory in 2022 behind a goal each from former Dynamo players Darwin Quintero and Thorleifur \u00dalfarsson. Houston also earned a 4-1 win over Chicago in the 2023 U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals en route to capturing the title.<\/p>\n

Chicago\u2019s was also active this offseason under head coach Gregg Berhalter, adding midfielder Robin Lod, 2025 MLS NEXT Pro Golden Boot winner Jason Shokalook, African winger Puso Dithejane and goalkeeper Josh Cohen. The club also exercised 2026 contract options for defender Jack Elliott and midfielder Sam Williams. Forward Hugo Cuypers led the team last season with 17 goals and three assists in regular season play.<\/p>\n

The Dynamo will continue their two-game season-opening homestand against LAFC on Sunday, Feb. 28, at Shell Energy Stadium, with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are available\u00a0HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON (Feb. 20, 2026) \u2013 Houston Dynamo FC\u00a0launch their 2026 MLS regular season campaign on Saturday, Feb. 21,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[70215,12731,70217,70218,70212,56,844,845,58,57,70214,13793,59944,70213,70216,43707],"class_list":{"0":"post-173558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-antonio-carlos","9":"tag-artur","10":"tag-erik-sviatchenko","11":"tag-ezequiel-ponce","12":"tag-guilherme","13":"tag-houston","14":"tag-houston-dynamo-fc","15":"tag-houston-dynamo-news","16":"tag-houston-headlines","17":"tag-houston-news","18":"tag-jonathan-bond","19":"tag-lawrence-ennali","20":"tag-mateusz-bogusz","21":"tag-nick-markanich","22":"tag-ondrej-lingr","23":"tag-reese-miller"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}