MLS NEXT PRO:Chicago Fire II v Chattanooga FC
- Phillip Farrell
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
Match: Chicago Fire II v Chattanooga FC
Date: Sunday, March 15th, 2026. 16:00 (Eastern)
Venue: SeatGeek Stadium, Bridgeview, IL. Capacity: 20,000
How to watch: OneFootball, MLSNextPro.com, YouTube
Tickets: Free Admission
CHATTANOOGA, Tn --- After a thrilling and convincing 4-2 over CT United last Sunday, Chattanooga Football Club travels to the Land of Lincoln this weekend to take on Chicago Fire II in Week 3 of MLS Next Pro.
Chicago (W0 D1 L1 SOW:1 GF:3 GA:3 GD:-1) are winless so far this season but are yet to play at home. They and Inter Miami II kicked-off the new season, tying 1-1 in Florida before Chicago won the resulting PK shootout 6-5. This was followed up with a 2-1 loss at Orlando City B. Captain Richard Fleming III opened their seasonal account in Miami with Jack Sandmeyer netting in Orlando. The side, coached by Mike Matkovich in his second season, came 6th in the Eastern Conference in 2025 going as far as the Conference Semi-Finals. They’d be expecting to go better in 2026 and look to kick-start their season with a win at home this weekend.
Chattanooga (W1 D0 L1 GF:5 GA:6 GD:-1) got into their groove last weekend, beating CT United 4-2 at home. New signing Alex Krehl showed his goalscoring menace with a brace, whilst club stalwarts Tate Robertson and Alex McGrath also netted. It was as thorough and convincing a win as any team might achieve and came after a difficult 4-1 opening day drubbing at the hands of high-flyers Crown Legacy. The game on Sunday afternoon represents CFC’s first away tie this season as they look to build momentum under interim Head Coach Richard Dixon.
The match kicks off at 4pm Eastern and will be officiated by Atahan Yaya of Ohio. We’re expecting rain and snow in the hours leading up to kick off with temperatures in the low 60s. Streaming will be available on MLSNextPro.com, the league’s YouTube channel, and the OneFootball app.
The history
Sunday’s game will be the first of three matches between these sides in 2026’s regular season. They will meet again at Finley Stadium on June 27 and back in Bridgeview on September 20.
They have played each other just twice before, with Chicago owning the superior record of one win and one draw. In June 2024, the sides played out a 1-1 draw at SeatGeek Stadium with Chicago’s Lamonth Rochester (now of Radnički Niš in Serbia) and Chattanooga’s Mehdi Ouamri (now of TS Galaxy in South Africa) netting. Chicago won the resulting penalty shootout 4-3. They met again in July 2025 with the Fire winning 1-0 at Finley Stadium through a 52nd minute strike from Jason Shokalook.
As an aside, Chattanooga also played Chicago Fire’s PDL side back in 2016 when it hosted the Hank Steinbrecher Cup. CFC were defending champions but fell 2-1 to Chicago in the final at Finley Stadium.
Report cards and lineups
Chicago Fire II
This is Head Coach Mike Matkovich second season leading Chicago after leading them to a 12W-9L-7T (48 pts.) finish in 2025. Former USMNT defender Omar Gonzalez joins him as Assistant Coach for this season. Captain Richard Fleming and Jack Sandmeyer are the club’s two goalscorers so far ut expect to see the likes of Robert Trudean and Dean Bolz get on scoresheets soon, if available to Matkovic.
Predicted Starting XI: Owen Pratt; Hugo Berg, Josue Pfrommer, Jack Sandmeyer, Chase Nagle; Richard Fleming III (C), Oscar Pineda; Vitaliy Hlyut, Robert Turdean, Damyan Villanueva; Dean Boltz
I’ve one for Boltz up front as he scored against Miami and then was dropped but this could easily be David Poreba instead. Similarly, Damyan Villanueva could be replaced by Damian Nigg who played against Orlando, but the above is the team I’d put out.
There’s some youth international experience here via Jason Nemo (USA U16), Owen Pratt (USA U17), Damian Nigg (Switzerland U20), and Vitaliy Glyut (Ukraine U18) but little else of note.
The player to watch for Chicago is Sandmeyer who had two excellent games so far at the back for a side who’ve yet to really get their season going. If the likes of Alex Krehl is to be kept at bay then the 23-year-old Sandmeyer will be integral to that effort.
Chattanooga
Chattanooga looked transformed last Sunday against CT United from the side that lost on opening day to Crown Legacy. The link-up play between Robertson, McGrath, and Krehl was devastating at times with the latter’s physicality causing havoc to the visitors. There’s been no news from the club on their search for a full-time Head Coach, so Richard Dixon remains in the hot seat. As he looks to build momentum and a run of results during his (potentially short) time as Head Coach, I imagine he’ll keep most if not all of the same starting XI that beat Connecticut.
Predicted Starting XI: Eldin Jakupović; Yves Tcheuyap, Mattias Hanchard, Farid Sar-Sar, Anthony Sorenson; Tate Robertson, Alex McGrath (C), Isaiah Jones; Daniel Mangarov, Anthony García, Alex Krehl
My CFC player to watch is Alex Krehl. He bagged his first and second goals for the club against CT United and had an important hand in the other two. Strong, physical and with a good engine, he’s brought his pedigree crafted from Spain’s lower leagues to MLS Next Pro. I can’t wait to see him in action again.
Analysis and predictions
I hate to fence-sit, but I’m going for a draw, 0-0 or 1-1. Chicago are not bad and at home will be expected to be more solid. CFC, if they bring even half their performance from last week, will be dangerous, but this is their first away game in 2026 and represents uncharted territory for their new-look side. Poor weather may also make this a cagey affair.
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