Former Philadelphia Union man Veljko Paunovic brought his injury-riddled Chicago Fire team to Talen Energy Stadium Wednesday evening and deployed a man-marking system with Bastian Schweinsteiger as a sweeper.
Yup, it was weird.
As Jim Curtin noted in his post-game comments, though, what is old often becomes new again, with a few tweaks to fit changes in the game such as player fitness. And Paunovic certainly did not invent this unique system wholecloth: Chivas Guadalajara recently won the 2018 CONCACAF Champions League using a very similar system that boiled down to an audacious invasion of every opponent’s personal space until the ball popped loose for a counterattack.