For once, he was noticeable for diligence and perseverance, not spectacle. Jovan Kirovski, he of the powerful run and shot against Germany in 1999 and a fierce shot off the goalkeeper's face in Seattle earlier this year, did the gritty work May 26 against Wales in a 2-0 victory.
He won balls in the air. He worked nearly every inch of the penalty area. He held the ball and absorbed hits and kicks from defenders. He provoked Welsh right back Matthew Jones into throwing a foolish forearm that yielded a penalty kick and the first U.S. goal.
On the tight confines of Spartan Stadium, Kirovski played the resilient, rugged game necessitated by a narrow field. If he wasn't Brian McBride, he gave a passable imitation.
''He's almost like a McBride in that he's pretty decent in the air and pretty strong, but he's clever,'' says forward Landon Donovan, who was Kirovski's partner up front and put away the penalty he won. ''He doesn't have all the attributes of McBride but he makes up for it in other ways. He's a smart player, a good player.''
Kirovski is a player who's been searching for the right club – and his true position – since leaving Southern California at age 16 to pursue his pro dreams.
''I think the open-ended question in the minds of many coaches is, is he a tweener?'' says former national team assistant coach Dave Sarachan, who worked with Kirovski for nearly two years before taking over as head coach of the Chicago Fire. ''He's not really a guy who's going to play with his back to goal and take the pounding, although he's capable of that.
''I still feel he's better when he's underneath another forward, where he can collect balls, face defenders and go at them. He has the ability to get shots off with power and get chances at goal when he's coming forward. There's something there for sure, and that's why he keeps popping up [with the national team].''
England is the latest residence of much-traveled U.S. attacker Jovan Kirovski, who despite a shortage of first-team club experience refuses to be excised from the national team pool.
The Wales game was his 56th for the United States since making his debut against Saudi Arabia in October 1994. In that time, he's scored eight goals and played midfield and forward for Bora Milutinovic, Steve Sampson and Bruce Arena.
But in 10 World Cup qualifying games, Kirovski has yet to score. By comparison, McBride has six goals in 11 qualifiers. McBride has played – and scored – in two World Cups. Kirovski has yet to be named to a World Cup roster.
''The bottom line with Jovan is that he's still 27 years old, a technically good player and an experienced player,'' says Arena, who named Kirovski to the Confederations Cup squad. ''If he places himself in the right situation where he's playing more, he can certainly can be a player to help us in qualifying and be a part of the next World Cup.''
But just what is he: Striker, second forward, attacking midfielder, all of the above?
''A mixture of McBride/Donovan,'' says U.S. midfielder Richard Mulrooney. ''He's not a pure target forward but he's not a guy who gets behind everything. He's a good mix of a guy up top who gets shots off, gets crosses off, or lays the ball off, whatever he needs to do.''
What Kirovski needs to do is establish himself in the first team of a club – any club. It's been that way for nearly a decade.
CLUB TRAVELS. Kirovski played alongside David Beckham on the great Manchester United youth team in the early 1990s and saw scant action but lucrative paydays for Borussia Dortmund – he played on the '97 Toyota Cup championship team – and Sporting Lisbon before heading to England two years ago.
''Jovan's played at bigger clubs than any American, and it's hard to play at those teams,'' says U.S. defender Gregg Berhalter, who was Kirovski's teammate at Crystal Palace before moving to German club Energie Cottbus. ''It's good that he even tries it. Dortmund, Sporting Lisbon, Man United. Those are massive clubs.
''In my case, I've been at smaller clubs [FC Zwolle, Sparta Rotterdam and Cambuur in Holland] where I could play and did play. At Palace, he did great [five goals in 36 games]. He just needs to find a situation where he can play every week. I know the manager at Birmingham likes him and it will come for him.''
After one season in the First Division at Crystal Palace, Birmingham City manager Steve Bruce brought Kirovski to his promoted club. Bruce, a former United defender, remembered the precocious young American who seemed to have all the tools but could never obtain a work permit to play for United.
Arena believes that two years in England have toughened Kirovski and sharpened certain elements of his game.
''I think he understands me, about where I like to play and how I like to play,'' says Kirovski. ''He brought me in to play just behind the strikers, but we had a lot of injuries and he had to change things.''
The alliance seems to be working, although again Kirovski's first-team appearances have been few. In 17 Premier League games this past season, including only five as a starter, Kirovski scored two goals.
One of them, though, was vintage Kirovski, a mesmerizing mix of audacity and skill. Given a start against Fulham in mid-December, he played a one-two with Clinton Morrison at the edge of the penalty area and bent a fantastic shot past keeper Edwin Van der Saar and into the corner.
That eighth-minute goal stood up for a 1-0 away win and a critical three points for a club that had just joined the Premier League. Two weeks later, he scored again in a 1-1 tie with Everton.
But in January, the transfer window opened up, and Birmingham signed several players, including former French international striker Christophe Dugarry. Kirovski played little and didn't score the rest of the season.
''It was frustrating to score a couple of goals and then lose my spot in the first team and go back to the reserves, but I like being in Birmingham and I like the coach,'' he says.
''Last year, even when we were in the First Division, the club was drawing 20,000 or 22,000 per game and once we went up to the Premier League …. the stadium is packed for every game. The fans are so loud, it's unbelievable.''
SHARPER ON THE BALL. Aside from Dugarry, Birmingham is stacked with forwards. Morrison, who scored 22 goals as Kirovski's teammate at Crystal Palace during the 2001-02 season, got six this past season.
Yet Arena believes that two years in England have toughened Kirovski and sharpened certain elements of his game.
''This could be an odd statement, given the fact he played less this year than he did at Crystal Palace,'' says Arena, ''but he looks much sharper with the ball. He looks stronger on the ball and more experienced.
''Playing in the Premiership and training and playing even in a reserve team there, that's a quality a player who plays in the middle of the field and up high has to have. I'm sure he's getting more training with that than he has in the past.''
Kirovski admits he's never before felt as grounded as he does in Birmingham, despite his spotty playing status. Married with a 13-month-old son, Jovan Jr., has him content off the field. His contract has two more years to run.
''I love the club and I'm happy in Birmingham, even though I'm not in the first team,'' he says. ''I have my wife and my son with me, so I do feel more settled there than I did at the other clubs I've been with.''
Berhalter has noticed a refinement on the field. ''He's matured a lot as a player,'' says Berhalter, who debuted on the national team at the same time Kirovski did and was Kirovski's roommate. ''He's simplified his game and he uses his strength a lot. He's probably the best player up front at holding the ball and he seems to be concentrating a lot more.
''Maybe when he was younger he tried to maybe beat a guy or back heel, but now I've noticed such a difference. He's finding out what type of player he is and he's using his strengths a lot more. It's helping him a lot.''
In 1999, Kirovski played more minutes (990) than anybody else on the national team and started three of five games in the Confederations Cup, but his club career nosedived. Dortmund loaned him to Second Division Fortuna Cologne, where he battled with Coach Toni Schumacher and returned to Dortmund unwilling to be loaned again.
One season at Sporting paid him handsomely (more than $250,000 reportedly), but he made only five appearances as a sub.
Thus began the trek back to England, back to the national team and, perhaps, toward a sense of place.
by Soccer America Senior Editor Ridge Mahoney