Schweinsteiger and McCarty play central midfield and are both quite good. Schweinsteiger because he used to be one of the better players in the world and is now on the downside of his career, and McCarty is a fringe national team player. Their target forward Nikolic is a good goal scorer. I'm not sure if any of their new additions are doing anything noteworthy, or if any of the above guys are dealing with injury. Atlanta has a more interesting roster. Their attack with Almiron, Martinez, and Nagbe is very, very good, and they're just now getting to incorporate their big signing from the offseason (Ezequiel Barco) too. Those four as a unit are as good as it gets in MLS. thanks for this, by the way. Schweinsteiger seemed to be in the middle of everything and directing much of the traffic for the fire (and definitely a fan favorite--nearly every jersey i saw around the stadium had his name on the back). can't say i noticed mccarty quite as much, but again, i don't really follow soccer so my eye is very much untrained. Martinez scored one of the goals for Atlanta. the two halves felt like different games. the first half was more of a defensive struggle, and in the 2nd half, it felt like both teams were getting right to the goal. and guzan is just a beast. i don't have much frame of reference, but he had at least three diving stops and 2 plays where he just jumped over a pile of players for the ball. and he was extremely vocal out there. very fun to watch. i was surprised with the energy of the crowd at the game. having never been to one, i was expecting a pretty sparse crowd--something like a weekday afternoon for a 2012 cubs game. it wasn't packed to the gills or anything, but it felt like a pretty good showing and it was a lively crowd. definitely would like to get back out there.