Bastian Schweinsteiger's influence has touched many aspects in his short time with the Chicago Fire.
The hysteria surrounding his signing and arrival and the goal he scored in his debut have garnered most of the attention so far, but his passing is what he has been known for on the field in his career. Schweinsteiger had some highlight reel passes on Saturday, sending sprinting forwards into breakaways chances on the Montreal goal.
Luis Solignac, who entered the match as a sub, drew a red card after running onto a Schweinsteiger pass in the 80th minute.
Not many players in MLS can make that pass, and certainly not that quickly. Solignac said there was a connection with Schweinsteiger in his time on the field.
"We were on the same page for those 15 minutes," Solignac said. "I'm the guy that always tries to make those kind of runs. The difference now is this guy can see it maybe three times faster than everyone. He just played the ball. I think he knows that someone is going to be there. For me it was just easy to run forward and the pass was amazing."
Solignac said he didn't talk with Schweinsteiger about certain runs to make, the connection came naturally. Multiple players on the Fire have all said that Schweinsteiger is easy to play with because he knows the game so well. He knows what he is supposed to do so there isn't much of an adjustment period required.
However, will the forwards have to adjust their runs knowing Schweinsteiger can make passes that other teammates could not?
"I think we can make a lot of different runs because he can pick you anywhere you are," winger David Accam said. "We have a lot of options and we need to vary our runs, different runs, so he can pick us out."
The way his new teammates talk about Schweinsteiger, he sounds like a dream for a goal scorer.
"As a forward or winger that's what you want," Accam said. "You want someone who can give those through passes and all the long passes so for me it was fun playing with him."