Robert Lewandowski was due to make his Chicago Fire debut last week, but the match against Vancouver Whitecaps was postponed due to poor air quality in Chicago caused by wildfires raging in Canada. For “Lewi” this was both bad and good news.
It’s bad because he won’t be making his debut in front of his home crowd – the Fire’s match against Inter will be played in Miami, and the club was preparing to welcome him to Soldier Field in front of a crowd of 50,000. And that’s good, because time is working in his favor.
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He was scheduled to play against the Whitecaps three days after landing in Chicago and after just two practices with Gregg Berhalter’s team. The delay to his debut meant he had eight days to prepare.
Lewandowski unlucky in debuts
This is important because as we know, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. And Lewandowski has been unlucky with goals in his debuts for a long time – contrary to popular belief.
The last time he scored a goal was in his first appearance for his new club 18 years ago. On 17 July 2008, he was among the top scorers in his debut match for Lech Poznań. His goal brought Kolejoz victory over Kazar Lenkoran (1:0) in the UEFA Cup.
Two months later he also scored on his Poland debut against San Marino, but did not repeat the feat at Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich or Barcelona. He waited 18 years to score on his debut.
173, 269, 91 and…?
In 2010, he began his adventure with BVB with a performance against Wacker Burghausen in the German Cup. He did not score against the third team in the league, as well as in the next five matches. He only broke through in seventh place, when he beat Manuel Neuer in the Ruhr derby against Schalke 04. He waited 173 minutes for this goal.
He also failed to score in his first four matches for Bayern, whom he joined from Dortmund in 2014. He managed to do this only in the fourth match, playing 269 minutes. Interestingly, in the match against Schalke 04 he scored goals this time too.
The shortest time, just 91 minutes, was waiting for the premiere goal in Barcelona. He conceded a goal on his debut, but scored a brace in his second match against Real Sociedad San Sebastian. He scored the first goal in the 44th second of the match.
Can Lewandowski break the curse on his Chicago Fire debut? We will find out on the night from Wednesday to Thursday at 1:30 Polish time. The match of the 16th round of MLS “Inter Miami” – “Chicago Fire” can be watched on AppleTV. Live broadcast on WP SportoweFakty.
Maciej Kmita, journalist WP SportoweFakty
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Follow Robert Lewandowski’s debut in the American MLS League on Wirtualna Polska SportoweFakty. On the night of Wednesday to Thursday at 1.30 Inter Miami will meet with the Chicago Fire Poles. You can watch the match live, and immediately after the match at 3.30 there will be a live Match Studio broadcast with experts and a link with our correspondent in Miami – Sebastian Staszewski.