A sizable contingent of Manchester United fans, from all the over the world, came out to see Bastian Schweinsteiger win his first game as a Major League Soccer player on Saturday. Schweinsteiger and the Fire beat their MLS rival Columbus Crew 1-0 at Toyota Park in the suburbs of Chicago, on the strength of a goal from Nemanja Nikolic.
Schweinsteiger had a prime scoring opportunity on a free kick won by Drew Conner, but Columbus goalkeeper Zack Steffen made a diving effort to deny the shot.
Manchester United supporters from all the world, including the city of Manchester itself, were among the 16,434 on hand in Bridgeview, Illinois on Saturday.
“When I first heard the news about Scheweinsteiger, I was like woah, he’s actually coming to my city,” said Georgi Savov, a member of the Manchester United Fans of Chicago Club, who is originally from Bulgaria.
“He’s one of my favorite players. I was really excited when he joined United, but he never really got the chance to play. Under Van Gaal he had some injuries and once Mourinho came up he didn’t get that many chances. So that was unfortunate, but now I get to see him week in and week out here, so that’s good.”
“He’s still got a lot to offer- he’s only 32.”
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With the Fire getting the win and all three points today, they moved up to second in the Eastern Conference behind Columbus, a team with which they gave a game in hand. They are now two points off the pace for the top of the table. Schweinsteiger’s first game in Chicago had nice weather, and his second game had almost perfect conditions for soccer.
“I’m happy that the fans have come over to our games to support us,” said Schweinsteiger after the game.
He says he can feel the excitement building around Toyota Park and the club.
“Yes, I feel it of course, also I see a lot of German flags, I feel there’s something going on, but I’m just one player. I try to help as much as I can for the club.”
“It’s a really good feeling, after the match, it was a very good feeling. Of course, we won. Last week, we played to a draw, so we lost two points, but today we were very happy about the three points.”
Great weather
Fun crowd
Fun times at Toyota Park
Let's Go You Men In Red#ChicagoFire pic.twitter.com/WXiq5n8vGc— MUFChicago (@MUFChicago) April 8, 2017
Schweinsteiger also described how he’s adjusting to life in Chicago and the MLS.
“It’s getting better. I train hard, I want to improve, I want to help the team even more,” he said.
“These two games were quite intense. I hope, with the game philosophy that we have, to make it easier for everyone on the pitch to control the game better so that we can enjoy playing soccer a little bit more.”
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 and NBC Chicago.com, contributes to Chicago Tribune.com, Bold, WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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