\n Match Information<\/p>\n
Chicago Fire FC (0-0-0, 0 points)\u00a0at\u00a0Houston Dynamo FC\u00a0(0-0-0, 0 points)\u00a0
Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026\u00a0
7:30 p.m. CT
Shell Energy Stadium\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Houston,\u00a0Texas\u00a0<\/p>\n
How to Watch: Apple TV<\/a> How to Listen: WLSAM.com<\/a> \/\/ Que Buena Fire on Uforia App by Trebel<\/a> \n Match Preview<\/p>\n Chicago Fire FC will begin its 29th season in Major League Soccer on Saturday, Feb. 21, when it opens the 2026 regular season against Houston Dynamo FC in the Lone Star State.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Fire\u00a0will take the\u00a0field at Shell Energy Stadium\u00a0coming\u00a0off\u00a0a historic 2025 season that resulted in their first postseason appearance since 2017.\u00a0Chicago finished the year with a Club-record 68 goals, 43 of them on the road \u2013 the second-best mark in league history.\u00a0The goals powered\u00a0a record nine wins away from home, a form that the Men in Red\u00a0look to carry into Houston, where they\u00a0have a 3-7-4 all-time mark since the Dynamo\u2019s inaugural 2006 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Houston will hope for a better start to 2026 than a year ago, when it dropped its first three home matches of the season. The setbacks factored into a 12th place finish in the Western Conference, missing the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2022. But Houston still saw plenty of success on the field, particularly from forward Ezequiel Ponce \u2013 who paced the Orange Crush with 10 goals \u2013 and 22-year-old midfielder Jack McGlynn\u2019s club-leading 14 goal contributions.\u00a0<\/p>\n All-Time MLS Regular Season Record vs.\u00a0HOU:\u00a0(9-11-8)\u00a0<\/p>\n Last Game vs.\u00a0HOU: April 6, 2024 (2-1 W) \u2013 Soldier Field \u2013 Chicago (Match Recap<\/a>)\u00a0 \n Hyundai Keys to the Match:<\/p>\n A New Hope:\u00a0Chicago Fire FC begins its 29th season in Major League Soccer on Saturday with a new set of hopes and expectations.\u00a0Gone is an eight-year-long\u00a0postseason\u00a0drought; now, the goals are loftier, and the bar is raised. But Gregg Berhalter and his Men in Red know it all begins on a steamy night in Houston. \u201cAnytime it’s a home\u00a0opener,\u00a0you know they’re going to be fired up to play,\u201d said the head coach about\u00a0the Dynamo.\u00a0\u201cThe weather is going to be perfect.\u00a0So\u00a0we’re\u00a0really looking forward to this game.\u201d<\/p>\n Nordic\u00a0Combined: Danish winger Philip Zinckernagel returns to MLS in 2026 with a target on his back, having paced the Fire with a Club-record 30 goal contributions in 2025. Houston and the rest of the league are well aware of his work, but now they will contend with a new challenge: his chemistry with Robin Lod and Anton Sal\u00e9tros. The three have developed a strong chemistry in the midfield, with veteran Finnish midfielder Lod swapping spaces with \u201cZinck\u201d at will, and Swedish set piece specialist Sal\u00e9tros finding gaps in the defense to unlock his two Nordic teammates.<\/p>\n Break the Streak:\u00a0The Men in Red broke plenty of droughts in 2025, most notably winning their first postseason match since 2009.\u00a0That year also marked the last time Chicago won its\u00a0season opener\u00a0\u2013\u00a0a 2-1 victory in\u00a0Texas\u00a0against FC Dallas on March 21.\u00a0That victory kicked off a season that culminated in\u00a0the Eastern Conference\u00a0finals against eventual champions Real Salt Lake. The 2026 season opener in\u00a0the Lone Star State\u00a0would be\u00a0a good time\u00a0to break another streak and\u00a0set the\u00a0stage for\u00a0a deep postseason run.<\/p>\n \n Match Notes<\/p>\n Chicago will open its 29th season on the road against Houston Dynamo FC on Saturday, Feb. 21 at BBVA Stadium. This will be the earliest season opener in Club history, one calendar day earlier than the Feb. 22 opener at Columbus in 2025.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Chicago\u2019s 29th all-time meeting against Houston will mark the first time the Fire\u00a0open\u00a0a season against the Dynamo. But the Men in Red have plenty of experience opening in Texas, facing Brimstone Cup rival FC Dallas in the Lone Star State five times since 2000, most recently in 2011.\u00a0<\/p>\n The season opening tilt against Houston will also be the Fire\u2019s first interconference match of 2026 and their 317th\u00a0match against a Western Conference opponent in regular season play. Chicago finished the 2025 season with a record of 4-1-1 against the West, including a perfect 3-0-0 record on the road.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Midfielder Robin Lod, who could make his Fire debut Saturday night in Houston, leads the 2026 Chicago Fire FC roster in appearances, minutes and goals against the Dynamo. Lod is tied for third with Vancouver forward Brian White and former Minnesota teammate Bongi Hlongwane for most goals against Houston among active MLS players with five.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n In his Major League Soccer debut in the\u00a02025\u00a0season opening match against Columbus, Jonathan Bamba\u00a0became only\u00a0the second player in Fire history to record two assists in his first league appearance. Only one Fire player has recorded two assists in a match against the Dynamo: midfielder Freddie Ljungberg in a 3-4 loss\u00a0in\u00a0Houston on Aug. 21, 2010. No Fire player has scored two or more goals against the Dynamo in series history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Match Information Chicago Fire FC (0-0-0, 0 points)\u00a0at\u00a0Houston Dynamo FC\u00a0(0-0-0, 0 points)\u00a0Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026\u00a07:30 p.m. CTShell Energy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[23149,56,58,57,68172,2659,70485,223],"class_list":["post-174435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-chicago-fire-fc","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houvschi-02-21-2026","tag-match-preview","tag-matchday-guide","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174435","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=174435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
English: Christian Miles & Kacey White
Spanish: Pablo Ramirez & Jesus Bracamontes<\/p>\n
English: Max Anderson & Joe Chatz
Spanish: Omar Ramos & Teresa Lim\u00f3n<\/p>\n
Last Game at\u00a0HOU: June 25, 2022 (0-2 L) \u2013 Shell Energy Stadium \u2013 Houston (Match Recap<\/a>)<\/p>\n