The Fire kick off a lengthy road trip with a visit to the Magic Kingdom. They're set to take on Orlando City for the first time since the Fire ended Orlando's 2025 season by handing them a defeat in the Eastern Conference wildcard game.
The match pits two of MLS's biggest new stars in the Fire's Robert Lewandowski and Orlando's Antoine Griezmann against each other, renewing the rivalry between the former Barcelona and Atlético Madrid players for the first time in North America.
It also tests the Fire's five game winning streak in all competitions as the squad seeks to extend it past that number for the first time since the club's inaugural season in 1998.
Orlando City
After three losses to open their 2026 campaign after the Fire ended their 2025 one, Orlando City mutually parted ways with Óscar Pareja, who had been their coach since 2019. Martín Perelman was given the job on an interim basis and remains in the role.
By reports, Pareja had to be convinced to stay in the offseason, and the termination was at his request.
Less than two weeks later, Orlando announced one of the biggest signings in team history: Midfielder Antoine Griezmann would be joining the club – but not until after the World Cup break.
Griezmann's opening game became a 4-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes, who were then near the top of the western conference. Three days later, they followed that up with a victory over top-of-conference Nashville.
In handing Nashville just their second loss of the season after falling to the Fire earlier in the year, Orlando made a statement: Griezmann is here, and we are back.
Since then, the luster has fallen a bit off of the star, with a loss to the Red Bulls followed up by a 1-1-1 performance in the Leagues Cup – but their lone victory was a 2-1 win over Rayados, handing them their only defeat of the group stage en route to a meeting next week with the Fire.
Chicago Fire
Griezmann's arrival in the league would have been the biggest inbound transfer of the window so far, had the Fire not brought in a certain Polish striker.
Unlike Griezmann, however, who has strung together highlight reel-worthy performance after highlight-reel performance since joining, Lewandowski's impact has so far been more muted, with three goals in his first seven appearances across all competitions.
Still, unlike Griezmann, the team has been winning – in increasingly convincing fashion – around him, and since it's been a couple weeks since this happened, quick reminder that since arriving, Lewandowski has done stuff like this while wearing red:
They don't call him Robert LewanGOALski for nothing! pic.twitter.com/6MXPSmYWTH
— Chicago Fire FC (@ChicagoFire) August 2, 2026
Yeah, he'll be do just fine with the Fire.
With the Fire playing two games a week through September, the question is how – not if – Berhalter will rotate and manage minutes throughout his squad.
The good news is that he has a wealth of options: Throughout the roster, his squad has been performing well.
Because of that, it's unlikely we'll really see a "best XI" – a concept that most coaches would roundly reject. Instead, expect a mix of options getting starts and minutes off the bench.
But let's be honest: Lewandowski is still going to want to be out there against the former Atléti man.
Lineup and Match Information
