Dax McCarty and Bastian Schweinsteiger met two weeks ago, but have already developed a solid pairing in central midfield for the Chicago Fire.
Since Schweinsteiger's arrival, each have won a man of the match honor. McCarty was man of the match in Saturday's 1-0 win against Columbus, a match which also featured some tactical back-and-forth from the two coaches.
Here's a look at how the Fire lined up, what that meant for the midfielders and how a couple young players showed off the bench.
The McCarty-Schweinsteiger pairing
Schweinsteiger still had a few nice moves in his second game with the Fire, but for the most part had a quiet game. Compare that to the other central midfielder to start the game, McCarty, who was involved in a number of key plays both offensively and defensively. After Schweinsteiger's standout game against Montreal, Columbus probably wasn't going to give the German the time to pick out the passes he did against the Impact. As a result, McCarty had more freedom and took advantage.
Not much more needs to be said that this video doesn't already display regarding McCarty's performance.
Tactical adjustments
Talking about formations in soccer can be tricky because they are typically very fluid within a match, but Fire coach Veljko Paunovic came out with something different against Columbus.
Chicago Fire
The Fire started in a 3-4-3 with outside defenders Brandon Vincent and Michael Harrington playing higher up the field, making them more like wingbacks or outside midfielders. It seemed to work in the first half, catching Columbus, a team built around possession and wing play, off guard. The Fire had a possession advantage at halftime.
In the second half Columbus was able to pin back Vincent and Harrington and the Fire were unable to keep the ball. The Crew had six crosses and two corners in the first nine minutes of the half, which led to Paunovic bringing on another midfielder, Drew Conner, for centerback Jonathan Campbell in the 55th minute.
"Playing a 4-2-3-1 as we did in the second half gave us more opportunity to keep the possession we were capable of," Paunovic said in his postgame press conference. "Also a very important point was we moved Bastian a little bit higher so he can be closer to the goal and to create these final passes or even for him to score, which I think it was close."
Schweinsteiger moved to the center spot of that three with McCarty and Conner playing more defensive roles in midfield.
Young players provide spark off the bench
Conner isn't a rookie, but he didn't appear for the Fire last year so the second-year player feels like a rookie. His third appearance this season was his longest and he was able to make a few notable plays in midfield.
The first was this pass that put David Accam in a dangerous spot.
Conner also had a long run on the ball in the 75th minute that drew a free kick just outside the box and weaved through the box in the 80th minute, but couldn't find anyone with his centering ball.
Daniel Johnson, who is a rookie, came on in the 73rd minute and nearly scored the game's second goal. He saw some open space to make a run and Nemanja Nikolic spotted him to start a breakaway. Johnson beat goalkeeper Zack Steffen, but the shot was cleared off the line by defender Nicolai Naess.
With a few injuries, the Fire's bench isn't very deep so unproven players like Conner and Johnson will have to perform like this to give Paunovic options to change games with substitutions.