Poreba calls playing with Lewandowski surreal as Fire keep winning

Robert Lewandowski has made a flying start to life at Chicago Fire and team-mate David Poreba says it is "crazy" and "surreal" to work with the striker.

Lewandowski scored the winner in a 2-1 victory over Orlando City last time out, his fourth goal for the Fire across all competitions. The Polish forward netted his first Chicago goal on August 1 and the club have won all six matches since that date.

The run has lifted the Fire into third place in MLS’ Eastern Conference, just four points behind second-place Inter Miami ahead of a trip to face New York Red Bulls.

Poreba on sharing the pitch with a hero

The Polish-American midfielder said the experience has been overwhelming.

"Honestly, it's surreal," Poreba said of playing with Lewandowski. "It shows you that life can have surprises. At the end of the day, I'm just super grateful because, after all I've been through as well, it's an amazing, amazing moment for me."

"It's crazy. You go from looking up to this guy your whole life, and now you're friends and team-mates with him. It's amazing, and I only have good things to say about him."

"Everyone knows him as a fantastic footballer, but people should know that he's an amazing person. That's where it starts. I'm just truly grateful to have a relationship with him."

Team mood ahead of Red Bulls

Puso Dithejane described the group’s mentality as the side chase points.

"The vibes are great," Dithejane said. "Every player wants to work and wants to win, so our mentality is the same. That's why we go into games, and we want to win."

"We told ourselves we have a lot of games coming, and we have to win all those games. It's all in the mind. Our mentality has to be right going into a game, and we have to go to win."

Players to watch

New York Red Bulls – Jorge Ruvalcaba
Ruvalcaba leads the Red Bulls in shots this regular season with 49, while team-mates Julian Hall, Emil Forsberg and Cade Cowell have also recorded at least 35 shots in 2026. The Red Bulls are the only MLS team with four players with 35 or more shots this season.

Chicago Fire – Robert Lewandowski
Lewandowski scored his match-winning penalty against Orlando on Wednesday. The Fire have won all six of their matches since he scored his first goal for the club on August 1.

Match context

The first meeting of the season between these teams was a 3-1 road win for the Red Bulls. The only consecutive wins by either team over the other in the 20 meetings in all competitions since 2017 came as a pair of Fire wins in August 2021.

Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to Nashville SC was the fourth time this season the Red Bulls have suffered a shutout loss at home. Excluding shoot-out losses, the only season in which the club has had more shutout losses at home in the regular season was 1996.

Chicago’s six-match run is their longest winning streak in competitive matches since a six-game streak in June-July 2001.

Opta win probability: New York Red Bulls 39.4%, Draw 26.6%, Chicago Fire 34%. Match prediction: Draw.