Record Crowd Watches Fire, Messi's Inter Miami Battle To Draw At Soldier Field

CHICAGO — With Lionel Messi in town, Robert Lewandowski scoring again and more than 63,000 fans filling Soldier Field, Wednesday night had the feel of something bigger than a typical regular-season match.

The Chicago Fire and Inter Miami played to a 1-1 draw before a club-record crowd of 63,094, surpassing the previous Fire attendance record of 62,358 set against Miami on April 13, 2025.

The draw also extended Chicago's unbeaten streak in Major League Soccer play to seven matches, its longest since an 11-match run during the 2017 season.

Lewandowski gave the Fire an early lead in the 10th minute, scoring for the third consecutive match and continuing a productive start to his Chicago tenure.

Robin Lod started the sequence by playing the ball back to Andrew Gutman, who created space from a defender and sent a cross toward the far side of the penalty area. Lewandowski met it with a volley to put Chicago ahead 1-0.

It was Lewandowski's sixth goal in seven league starts with the Fire and his fourth in the past five matches.

Messi Sets Up Equalizer

Chicago carried the advantage into halftime before Miami answered shortly after the break.

Messi delivered a corner kick in the 48th minute that Casemiro headed past diving Fire goalkeeper Chris Brady to tie the match.

Neither team scored again despite Miami generating more chances. Inter Miami finished with 20 shots to Chicago's 10 and put seven on goal compared with three for the Fire.

Brady made six saves to help Chicago preserve the draw.

Miami held 54 percent of the possession and had five corner kicks to Chicago's two, while the teams combined for 30 fouls in what became a physical match.

Chicago moved to 11-6-6 with 39 points, while Miami left Soldier Field at 12-4-8 with 44 points.

Another Record Night At Soldier Field

The attendance provided one of the night's biggest storylines.

Wednesday marked the second consecutive year that a Fire home match against Miami established a club attendance record at Soldier Field.

The previous mark of 62,358 was set in April 2025. Wednesday's crowd topped that by 736 fans.

For fans in the stadium, Messi remained the obvious attraction whenever he touched the ball, but Chicago gave the home crowd something to celebrate almost immediately with Lewandowski's opening goal.

The atmosphere continued throughout a match that included five yellow cards and few openings for either side after Miami tied it early in the second half.

Gutman's assist on the Fire goal was his sixth of the season, trailing only Philip Zinckernagel's nine and Maren Haile-Selassie's eight on the team.

Fire Keep Unbeaten Run Going

The result continued one of Chicago's strongest stretches of the season.

The Fire have now gone seven consecutive MLS matches without a loss, their longest such streak in nine years.

Chicago's last longer run came in 2017, when the club went unbeaten in 11 straight matches on its way to the playoffs.

The Fire have done it while getting an immediate scoring contribution from Lewandowski, who has scored in three straight matches.

Chicago will have little time before returning to Soldier Field.

The Fire close their two-game homestand against the New England Revolution at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13.