Article by Matt Lichtenstadter
After Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Robbie Keane departed the MLS scene, it seemed as if MLS had almost fully moved past their past DP plan. No longer would the league and its teams target European stars advanced in age as their influences waned, instead they’d go after younger players with promise not only from South America but Europe as well. It had become the go-to strategy for teams across the league, and for many of them, had worked out brilliantly.
But the attraction for some teams to European stars was just too much to overcome, and the Chicago Fire dipped their toes into the old-school MLS pool by signing Bastian Schweinsteiger. Schweini had been on the outs at Manchester United under Jose Mourinho, so it made sense that he would look for another opportunity, but MLS? Now? And Chicago, one of the league’s few truly moribund franchises? The Fire had such a good offseason building a team their way with MLS veterans and unique scouting, but now this? Can it really work in an era where most DP signings are not of this variety?
Scoring on your debut is one way to silence the critics, and show those who think the Fire can win the World Cup that it takes more than one player to do so. But is he the player that the Fire need to transform themselves into a consistent playoff team once more?
He was by no means bad in his debut against Montreal, but it will take him time to get used to the league, its nuances, intricacies and tricks that it takes every player who joins from abroad time to adapt to. How he works in a midfield with Juninho and Dax McCarty is another important question, since all of them do roughly the same job. On paper, there isn’t a ton of balance there, especially in a 4-3-3. Maybe as some of their other new signings, such as NemanjaNikolic, get more comfortable in the league, Schweinsteiger will as well. But he’s being helped along by two MLS’ better midfielders alongside him, and if that doesn’t work then what might work with him in tow?
It certainly took Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, two players whose signings most remind me of Schweini’s, plenty of time to adapt to MLS and eventually bring their strengths to the fold. But with the Fire, does Schweinsteiger have the same sort of time, and ability to hide that those two men did in LA and New York respectively? Gerrard didn’t have to be the guy right away, and nor did Lampard. But Schweinsteiger, by virtue of the team he’s going to, has to be the guy almost immediately. That’s not fair to him, but it’s the situation he now finds himself in. It should certainly help that his next two games are home games against Columbus and New England, which should help him ease his way into his new role more than anything else.
But now he is the face of a Fire team trying another way of forcing their way back into relevance not only in the league, but in their market. There will be good days and bad for one of the true legends of recent soccer history, as with any new player in MLS, but he needs to be a transformative player sooner rather than later. He’s only 32, so he’s coming to the league closer to when Robbie Keane did as opposed to Gerrard and Lampard, so he has a chance to stick around for longer, and make a Keane like impact.
The Fire need him to do so, otherwise they’re not going to go anywhere.
