It was fitting that a giant Chicago Cubs “W” flag was waving back and forth behind the north goal yesterday at Toyota Park during the Chicago Fire 2-0 victory over Atlanta United. That’s because the Fire seem to be on their way to achieving a Cubs like rebuilding project, and doing it as the Cubs did, by building up a very strong spine of the team.
In both Major Leagues, Soccer and Baseball, you must be very solid right up the middle.
The blockbuster acquisition of Bastian Schweinsteiger seems to be the final piece of the Fire puzzle as the Men in Red are 7-2-3, with a +11 goal differential, since importing the German superstar from Manchester United in late March.
In Schweinsteiger, Juninho and Dax McCarty, the Fire recently beefed up at central midfielder, with a trio of their most talented players concentrated at the same position. It allows #cf97 to play their style which focuses on ball possession and control. It’s perfectly supplemented to what David Accam, arguably the team’s best player before the troika came to town, gives them.
You saw that on display Saturday, as both Bastian Schweinsteiger and David Accam combined to help set up the first goal, scored by Luis Solignac in the 29′, against the expansion Atlanta side.
The second goal came on a PK conversion in the 70′ from Nemanja Nikolic, his league-leading 12th of the season. Nikolic (the reigning MLS Player of the Month) has stepped up as that golden boot candidate, the finisher that everyone knew the Fire needed, but not many saw coming. It was certainly a point of contention from the skeptics when Bastian Schweinsteiger was acquired.
Doubters said “sure, you have all these great midfielders, but who’s going to complete plays in the final third?”
They also said: “what does Schweinsteiger bring you that you don’t already have?”
Well, credit Fire General Manager Nelson Rodriguez for his master plan showing results, and props to Fire Head Coach Veljko Paunovic for making all the pieces fit.
“The good thing about our roster this year is that we have options, we can play systems, we can play different formations and different players,” said Paunovic Saturday in the post game.
It’s turned out to be a mutually beneficial deal, at least thus far, and it even yielded a medal for Schweinsteiger. Yes, because of the few minutes that he played in the UEFA Europa League tournament, and United’s claiming the title, the German will be awarded a medal.
By no means are the Fire a finished product, but it’s obvious that a dramatic turnaround has already taken place. After finishing dead last in all of MLS the last two seasons, they are currently the hottest team in the league.
No doubt the ability of Schweinsteiger to adapt quickly and adapt well is a big part of that.
Chicago’s six-game winning streak at home is their longest in MLS regular season play since 2012. Chicago (8-3-4, 28 pts.) are now second in the East and in the Supporters’ Shield standings, to Toronto FC.
Yesterday’s win, which really should have been a lot more lopsided than the 2-0 final tally, also upped Chicago’s home record to 7-0-1, tying the Houston Dynamo for best in the league.
They are also currently unbeaten in 23 of 24 home matches dating back to April 2016. It’s probably a bit too early to have MLS Cup dreams, but a playoff berth should be the minimum expectation this fall. No matter what happens, respectability and contention are already here, and likely to be here for awhile.
Said Pauno: “The guys are really strong, we look good, we look solid but this is not done like we always say ‘we don’t want to constrain now’ but we need to be smart with managing the rest of the season.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes to WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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