Chicago Fire FC vs FC Cincinnati, MLS 2026 REGULAR SEASON

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MLS · 2026

Chicago Fire FC

2 – 3

Full Time

FC Cincinnati

Sun 3 May 2026 · 00:30 UTC Soldier Field HT 45' · FT 45'

Hugo Cuypers 16' 1–0

1–1 24' Evander

Hugo Cuypers 28' 2–1

2–2 31' Evander

2–3 90+7' Evander pen

R 56' Kyle Smith

Y 68' Kevin Denkey

Y 90' Ayoub Lajhar

Dje Davilla 90' Y

Y 90' Andrei Chirila

Overview

Match Preview

Chicago Fire FC vs FC Cincinnati — MLS at Soldier Field.

Chicago Fire FC 26 games · 42 pts (2026/26)
FC Cincinnati 26 games · 33 pts (2026/26)

Match Details

Referee Joe Dickerson
Assistant 1 Cameron Blanchard (USA)
Assistant 2 Logan Brown

8 games this season 🟨 3.4/game ⚽ 14.6 goals/game 🟥 1 total

Standings

#	Team	P	Pts
1	Nashville SC	27	60
2	Internacional CF Miami	27	46
3	New England Revolution	27	46
4	Charlotte FC	27	43
5	Chicago Fire FC	26	42
6	Philadelphia Union	27	39
7	Orlando City SC	27	34
8	New York City FC	27	33
9	FC Cincinnati	26	33
10	New York Red Bulls	26	33
11	D.C. United SC	26	30
12	Columbus Crew SC	27	29
13	Toronto FC	27	29
14	Atlanta United FC	27	27
15	Montreal Impact FC	27	24
16	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	26	50
17	FC Dallas	27	47
18	San Jose Earthquakes	27	45
19	St. Louis City	26	44
20	Houston Dynamo	27	44
21	Los Angeles FC	28	41
22	Colorado Rapids SC	27	36
23	Los Angeles Galaxy	28	36
24	Seattle Sounders FC	26	35
25	San Diego FC	27	32
26	Portland Timbers	27	32
27	Real Salt Lake	27	32
28	Austin FC	27	31
29	Minnesota United FC	27	29
30	Sporting Kansas City	26	21

Head-to-Head

Chicago Fire FC 16 games · Avg 3.3 goals FC Cincinnati

Last 5 meetings

2026-05-03 Chicago Fire FC 2–3 FC Cincinnati 2026-04-18 FC Cincinnati 3–3 Chicago Fire FC 2025-07-05 FC Cincinnati 2–1 Chicago Fire FC 2025-04-20 Chicago Fire FC 2–3 FC Cincinnati 2024-07-17 FC Cincinnati 0–1 Chicago Fire FC

Recent Form

Chicago Fire FC

Date	Opponent	H/A	Score	Result
03 May	FC Cincinnati	H	2–3	L
26 Apr	Sporting Kansas City	H	5–0	W
18 Apr	FC Cincinnati	A	3–3	D
12 Apr	Atlanta United FC	H	1–0	W
05 Apr	Nashville SC	H	1–0	W
21 Mar	Philadelphia Union	A	2–1	W

FC Cincinnati

Date	Opponent	H/A	Score	Result
03 May	Chicago Fire FC	A	3–2	W
25 Apr	New York Red Bulls	H	2–0	W
22 Apr	New York City FC	A	4–4	D
18 Apr	Chicago Fire FC	H	3–3	D
11 Apr	Toronto FC	A	1–1	D
04 Apr	New York Red Bulls	A	2–4	L

Season Stats

Chicago Fire FC		FC Cincinnati
#5	Position	#9
42	Points	33
26	Played	26
12 / 6 / 8	W / D / L	8 / 9 / 9
46	Scored	55
38	Conceded	64
+8	GD	-9
1.62	PPG	1.27
46%	Win %	31%

Key Stats

63% Both Teams to Score
H2H (16 games)

69% Over 2.5 Goals
H2H history

31% Clean Sheets
Chicago Fire FC this season

15% Clean Sheets
FC Cincinnati this season

Chicago Fire FC are 5th (42 pts). FC Cincinnati are 9th (33 pts).

Goal Timing (This Season)

Chicago Fire FC

0-15

7/2

16-30

7/5

31-45

3/8

46-60

4/6

61-75

8/–

76+

3/9

■ Scored ■ Conceded

FC Cincinnati

0-15

4/3

16-30

5/9

31-45

9/9

46-60

5/11

61-75

4/4

76+

13/7

■ Scored ■ Conceded

Top Scorers (This Season)

Chicago Fire FC

Hugo Cuypers	11 G
Maren Haile-Selassie	8 G	3 A
Philip Zinckernagel	5 G	4 A

FC Cincinnati

Kevin Denkey	14 G	1 A
Evander	13 G	7 A
Tom Barlow	7 G	2 A
Pavel Bucha	6 G	3 A

Events

Match Events

0' The wait is over. Chicago Fire FC get us underway at Soldier Field.
5' FC Cincinnati are keeping things exceptionally tight at the back. It will take something special to break them down.
10' FC Cincinnati seems to be on a short break. The game is mainly concentrated in the center. It’s high time they got back to action. Otherwise, it looks like a goalless game.
15' FC Cincinnati is showing some good football. However, FC Cincinnati are ready to play back every minute. It might result in some problems for the home side. The game will hardly remain goalless.
16' Brilliant from the ! Hugo Cuypers makes it 1-0 with a superb finish on 16.
21' Chicago Fire FC is defending very well tonight not leaving a chance for their rivals to get through for a goal.
24' What an equalizer from Evander!
28' Hugo Cuypers with the second goal in the match!
31' Evander doubles the advantage! 2-2 and this game is slipping away from the opposition.
36' The home supporters are growing impatient. Chicago Fire FC must find a spark to ignite this game.
41' Maren Haile-Selassie has certainly something to prove this evening. He made 0 appearances with only 7 goals this season.
46' The energy levels are beginning to show. Gregg Berhalter might look to freshen things up shortly.
51' Over 51 minutes have gone by without a meaningful attack. The supporters want more.
56' Kyle Smith has been a danger all night but risks an early exit having now seen a card on 56.
61' Supporters expect more eagerness from Kyle Smith, as he is very good at scoring at Soldier Field with 0 goals in the last 0 games.
66' The 26-year-old Roman Celentano has been sensational this season — 0 goals and 0 assists is a remarkable return.
68' The referee shows FC Cincinnati player a card on 68.
73' The referee has had an easy afternoon — neither side has been overly physical in the tackle.
78' While players are taking a pause, let’s have a look at their stats. The teams met 2 times this season with FC Cincinnati winning 50% of all matches.
83' Spectators are craving for more action. Both teams play very cautiously. They need to put some more energy.
88' It looks surprising Chicago Fire FC does not make any changes. Gerardo Valenzuela has some obvious troubles when approaching to the goal.
90' Ayoub Lajhar is having his name booked by the referee on 90.
With this win, FC Cincinnati is likely to improve its situation in the overall team standings.

Lineups

Chicago Fire FC Lineups

4-2-3-1

Starting XI

Bench

Coach Gregg Berhalter

FC Cincinnati Lineups

3-4-1-2

Starting XI

Bench

Coach Pat Noonan

H2H

H2H Top Scorers

Player	Goals
Evander	7
Hugo Cuypers	5
Luciano Acosta	4
Jhon Duran	3
Brian Gutierrez	3
Robert Beric	3
Philip Zinckernagel	2
Brandon Vazquez	2

Head to Head

Chicago Fire FC Form

2026-05-03 Chicago Fire FC 2–3 FC Cincinnati L 2026-04-26 Chicago Fire FC 5–0 Sporting Kansas City W 2026-04-18 FC Cincinnati 3–3 Chicago Fire FC D 2026-04-12 Chicago Fire FC 1–0 Atlanta United FC W 2026-04-05 Chicago Fire FC 1–0 Nashville SC W 2026-03-21 Philadelphia Union 1–2 Chicago Fire FC W

FC Cincinnati Form

2026-05-03 Chicago Fire FC 2–3 FC Cincinnati W 2026-04-25 FC Cincinnati 2–0 New York Red Bulls W 2026-04-22 New York City FC 4–4 FC Cincinnati D 2026-04-18 FC Cincinnati 3–3 Chicago Fire FC D 2026-04-11 Toronto FC 1–1 FC Cincinnati D 2026-04-04 New York Red Bulls 4–2 FC Cincinnati L

Predictions

Prediction accuracy

2 / 4

2.74 Chicago Fire FC xG

Expected Goals

Dixon-Coles · Bivariate Poisson · Neg. Binomial · Elo

1.95 FC Cincinnati xG

I would bet for: Over 2.5 goals 83% + Both teams to score 79%

Match Result

✗ Wrong

Chicago Fire FC49% Draw22% FC Cincinnati29%

Actual: FC Cincinnati win

Both Teams to Score

✓ Correct

Yes79% 0% No21%

Avg goals/match: 4.69

Actual: Yes — both scored

Over / Under Goals

✓ O/U 2.5

Line	Over	Under
± 0.5	98%	2%
± 1.5	94%	6%
± 2.5	83%	17%
± 3.5	67%	33%
± 4.5	49%	51%

Double Chance

Chicago Fire FC or Draw

71%

Draw or FC Cincinnati

51%

Chicago Fire FC or FC Cincinnati

78%

Half-Time Result

✗ Wrong

Chicago Fire FC42% Draw34% FC Cincinnati24%

Actual: Draw at HT

Correct Score

✓ In top 12

2 – 1

6.7%

2 – 2

6.3%

3 – 1

3 – 2

5.7%

1 – 1

5.6%

1 – 2

4.8%

2 – 3

Actual

4 – 1

4.1%

4 – 2

3.9%

3 – 3

3.7%

2 – 0

3.6%

3 – 0

3.2%

Asian Handicap — Chicago Fire FC

Handicap	Chicago Fire FC covers	Push	FC Cincinnati covers
-2.5	20%	—	80%
-2	20%	15%	64%
-1.5	36%	—	64%
-1	36%	18%	46%
-0.5	54%	—	46%
+0.5	73%	—	27%
+1	73%	13%	14%
+1.5	86%	—	14%
+2	86%	8%	6%
+2.5	94%	—	6%

Clean Sheet

Chicago Fire FC keeps clean sheet

15% ✓

FC Cincinnati keeps clean sheet

7% ✓

Predictions are statistical estimates based on season form, H2H history, and a Poisson model. Not financial advice.