The host Chicago Fire scored twice in stoppage time during the second half to secure a 3-0 win against CF Montreal on Saturday.
Jonathan Bamba, Hugo Cuypers and Robin Lod scored for the Fire (1-1-0, 3 points), who earned their first victory of the season in their home opener.
Montreal (0-2-0, 0 points) was shut out for the second straight match to open the 2026 season and has been outscored 8-0.
The two sides struggled to generate much through the first 12 minutes, though the hosts held a decided edge in possession with 70% of the touches.
Bamba gave Chicago a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute. Maren Haile-Selassie on the right flank inside the box drew keeper Thomas Gillier toward him and sent a cross for Bamba at the back post, where the forward easily scored into the open net.
Montreal nearly gave up another opportunity 10 seconds into the second half when Haile-Selassie was just outside the right edge of the goal area but the midfielder couldn’t get all of his shot for a quality chance.
After playing a man short in their 5-0 defeat to San Diego a week ago, Montreal had the advantage of playing a man up from the 56th minute on. After video review, Fire defender Jonathan Dean was shown a red card for denying Hennadii Synchuk of a goal-scoring opportunity when he tugged the midfielder’s jersey outside the box.
Montreal continued to struggle to generate offense despite its man advantage, and the match slipped away from the visitors in second-half stoppage time.
Cuypers was awarded a penalty after Gillier came off his line to deny the Belgian a chance, tripping him in the process. Cuypers beat Gillier to the right as the goalkeeper dove to the left to make it 2-0 in the fourth minute of extra time.
Lod increased it to 3-0 when he buried a rebound from the left side in the 10th minute of stoppage time.
–Field Level Media
