Bastian Schweinsteiger made a grand arrival to Chicago's O'Hare Airport on Tuesday, and managed to match that excitement with his goal and Man-of-the-Match performance in a 2-2 draw with Montreal Saturday at Toyota Park.
In doing so, Schweinsteiger became part of a short list of players in Chicago Fire history to score a goal in their debut MLS regular season match with the club, a list that now includes only 12 players from the Fire's 20 seasons. The noteworthy club also includes Bulgarian legend and FC Barcelona great Hristo Stoitchkov, who scored twice in his debut on March 18, 2000.
Of this list, Mike Magee sits alone as the only Fire player to score in his first four MLS games with the club, while Diego Chaves (3), Josh Wolff (2) and Robert Earnshaw (2) managed to score in their next game as well, so eyes will be on Schweinsteiger to see if he's able to put together a small streak Saturday (April 8) when Columbus Crew SC visits Toyota Park (1 p.m. | TICKETS).
Watch the video above for a complete collection of the first nine players to score on their debut and click here to watch Schweinsteiger's 17th-minute header vs. Montreal.
CHICAGO FIRE DEBUT GOAL-SCORERS
<strong>DATE</strong> |
<strong>PLAYER</strong> |
<strong>OPPONENT</strong> |
<strong>MLS DEBUT?</strong> |
3/21/1998 |
<strong><a href="/playerregistry/roman-kosecki">Roman Kosecki</a></strong> |
at Miami |
Yes |
3/21/1998 |
<strong><a href="/playerregistry/richie-kotschau">Richie Kotschau</a></strong> |
at Miami |
Yes |
5/23/1998 |
<strong><a href="/playerregistry/josh-wolff">Josh Wolff</a></strong> |
vs. Colorado |
Yes |
3/18/2000 |
<strong><a href="/playerregistry/hristo-stoitchkov">Hristo Stoitchkov (2)</a></strong> |
at Dallas |
Yes |
5/5/2001 |
<strong><a href="/playerregistry/eric-wynalda">Eric Wynalda</a></strong> |
vs. Tampa Bay |
No |
3/19/2011 |
<strong><a href="/playerregistry/diego-chaves">Diego Chaves</a></strong> |
at FC Dallas |
Yes |
8/3/2011 |
<strong><a href="/playerregistry/pavel-pardo">Pavel Pardo</a></strong> |
vs. Philadelphia |
Yes |
5/4/2012 |
<strong><a href="/playerregistry/austin-berry">Austin Berry</a></strong> |
at Chivas USA |
Yes |
6/2/2013 |
<strong><a href="http://www.chicago-fire.com/playerregistry/mike-magee">Mike Magee</a></strong> |
vs. D.C. United |
No |
3/9/2014 |
<strong><a href="/playerregistry/benji-joya">Benji Joya</a></strong> |
at Chivas USA |
Yes |
8/23/2014 |
<strong><a href="https://www.chicago-fire.com/playerregistry/robert-earnshaw">Robert Earnshaw</a></strong> |
at Toronto FC |
No |
4/1/2017 |
<a href="http://www.chicago-fire.com/post/2017/04/01/sideline-view-schweinsteiger-scores-his-debut-goal-chicago-fire?autoplay=true"><strong>Bastian Schweinsteiger</strong></a> |
vs. Montreal |
Yes |
