It’s tournament soccer. The Fire are back in the Leagues Cup – for the first time in the tournament’s new format, which features two phases before moving to a single-elimination knockout tournament. First up for the Fire is Necaxa, kicking off at SeatGeek Stadium at 7:30 p.m. tonight, one of three Liga MX opponents that the Fire face in the opening phase which pits teams from MLS against Mexican opponents.
“It’s a little bit different format than most people are used to, right, it’s not a group phase,” Fire Head Coach Gregg Berhalter said of the Swiss format, where teams play teams in a separate table. “You have to take care of your own results. You have to get points, you have to score goals. And if you do that, you can be in good shape to advance.”
Necaxa
Necaxa are beginning their second season under 35-year-old coach Martín Varini, who was hired in December 2025 ahead of the 2025-2026 Clausura. Varini was brought in in the hopes that he would do for Necaxa what he did with FC Juárez, who achieved outsized results under the young Uruguayan manager.
Varini, who had previous experience coaching in Brazil and Spain in addition to his native Uruguay, nonetheless brought his country’s trademark style, favoring pragmatic defensive stability and opportunistic transition play.
Last season, it didn’t work: The team finished in 15th in the 18 team league in the Clausura last spring after getting 18 points in 17 matches. That’s two spots lower in the table but a point better than they did in the Apertura, before Varrini joined
Still, the team has seen significant investment in recent years, with Eva Longoria taking an ownership stake and the club looking to shift their reputation away from a developmental club for young talent that soon sells it on to larger clubs in Mexico or abroad to one that is once again on the path to success that they had in the 1990s, when they won three titles before moving from Mexico City to Aguascalientes.
Early results from 2026 have been promising: Although the team did drop a 3-1 result to powerhouse Toluca in their last league match – after seeing a player sent off in 1st half stoppage time and then going down to nine men in the second half, they won their first two games. That includes a 2-1 victory over a strong Monterrey side, but the Rayados were playing down a man for the vast majority of that game after an early red card.
There’s been a recent infusion of talent from MLS into the squad, as Berhalter noted, saying “they have some guys that are familiar with MLS, in [Danny] Leyva and [Julian] Carranza.” Leyva played with Seattle and was a key factor in their Leagues Cup victory last year. Julian Carranza spent five years in MLS, including three with the Philadelphia Union from 2022-2024, when he was teammates with center back Jack Elliott.
“Julian has always been a goal scorer,” the Fire captain said on Thursday of his former teammate, “and I think he’s found a good place in Necaxa. He’s a good player, a tough player to play against. I think he’s going to be successful there. I played with him in Philly, and he was successful in Philly. He scored a lot of goals and does a lot of work off the ball, so we do have that to be aware of,” he said of Carranza.
Chicago Fire
The Fire’s biggest challenge will be navigating this game with considerably shallower depth at center back. In addition to being without injured Mbekezli Mbokazi, a normal starter at the position, Joel Waterman is suspended for this game after being sent off in Montréal’s last Leagues Cup game shortly before he joined the Fire.
After the Fire’s win against Charlotte on Saturday, Berhalter disclosed that Elliott has been dealing with a knee issue, and Christopher Cupps, nominally fifth player on the Fire’s depth chart at the position, has been with the US U-20 National Team as they’ve sought to qualify for the U-20 World Cup being held next year, something they did Tuesday night with a 3-1 win over Guatemala.
That meant Cupps could be recalled for this one. Berhalter called the decision to send him – and recall him after qualification – “straightforward,” saying that the club “always wants to support our Youth National Team program,” while his center back “did his job; he did his job well, I think he conceded one goal in the three games, and they qualified.” Still, with Cupps unable to join the team for training Wednesday, it’s unlikely he’ll be more than an emergency option in this one.
That leaves Elliott and Sam Rogers as the likely starters, but behind that duo? ““We have [Andrew] Gutman, we have [Jonathan] Dean that can play center back, we have plenty of options,” Berhalter said, adding “but I think more importantly, it's a challenge. It will be a tactical challenge that we’ll have to step up to; we’ll have to see exactly how they’re moving forward to press, with what type of numbers, how we can hopefully move their back line and pull them apart a little bit.”
Over the tournament, Berhalter has indicated that the squad will rotate – a virtual necessity with a game on Friday followed by on Sunday. To prepare, the nine first-team players started in for Chicago Fire II in their last game, in what became a 7-2 win over FC Cincinnati II with a Jason Shokalook hat trick leading the way.
My bet on the rotation? You go into this game with a strong lineup but keep options – especially Robert Lewandowski – on the bench. That’s a pretty good option to be able to haul out in a “break glass” situation if you need a goal late.
