BRIDGEVIEW–Right after the final whistle, Bastian Schweinsteiger walked over and gave a big hug to his goalkeeper Richard Sanchez for his effort making a couple of key saves and he was a big factor for Chicago picking up its first 3 points this season.Chicago earned a 1-0 victory over visiting Columbus at Toyota Park on Saturday night with a lot of the credit going to a total team defensive effort.
“We made the game difficult for Columbus,” Chicago Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic said. “In a lot of moments, we did and made it along with effort. We had good organization and strong mentality. This isn’t the way we want to play, definitely not always, but it’s good to have this resource. Sometimes you will play better teams like we faced (Columbus) and you have to learn to win this kind of games too.”
One of the ways in getting the defense working with effort and ability with keeping the ball in front of them. Schweinsteiger was placed more in the role of a center back or sweeper through most of the made and it made a big difference.
“At this point, we have to figure it out,” Paunovic said. “Bastian is one of the players that can play any role. Definitely, he helps our defense to be more confident and be more organized. It also helps the team in that way. His personality is amazing because he accepts the roles knowing that he will help the team. We have to figure it out to help him better in front of him. We’re fixing things and fixing the defense but still have to do a lot better. We just have to build on top of all this. It gives us some confidence but a long way to go.”
Sanchez was the man in the back that earned the clean sheet, but the entire Fire team had to pull the defensive effort altogether at times in keeping the ball away from the goal.
“It was smart possessions of what we wanted to do,” Sanchez said. “We did what we needed to do and we tried to do it accordingly. We did well on our end and some moments we didn’t but the overall effort of the team was outstanding.
Having Schweinsteiger on defense made Sanchez and team realize just how much talent and experience he gives on defense.
“It’s great because he’s a smart player,” Sanchez added. “Obviously, experienced and been around defenders all the game. I’m sure what he learned from those defenders and incorporated in his game. So, he’s a great help in the back.”
Schweinsteiger also can be considered playing a big role for the Fire on defense. While not all the credit goes his way, sometimes he does play in different spots during games. His efforts were really effective in the back to disrupt a number of chances for the Crew along with the rest of the team chipping in and learning from Schweinsteiger’s ability.
“I’m very happy for our goalkeeper Richard (Sanchez) and our whole team that we didn’t allow a goal,” Schweinsteiger said. “He knows I can play this position and other players can play this position. Sometimes, you don’t want to make it easy for the opponent as well. Maybe, next time against the Galaxy I play the number 10.
“We have to learn, we have to develop playing against the ball. We have to defend. What I like is the mentality of the team. Even its the heart we never give up and we try to help each other. By winning this game, it should give us confidence.”
Chicago Fire
Columbus Crew
