By Ridge Mahoney
Senior Editor, Soccer America Magazine
Regardless of who the U.S. fields in the World Cup or what formations are used, forward Brian McBride is a vital element for its hopes of reaching the second round.
Tell Brian McBride how lucky he is, and he'll readily agree, but not solely for the reasons of health and survival most mortals would cite.
Recovering from numerous facial fractures and life-threatening blood clots are products of good fortune, as is playing professionally, representing his country for more than a decade and having the opportunity to play in a third World Cup. McBride has been mostly free of injuries and ailments for more than two years, ever since, ironically, he left MLS to play in the tough English Premier League. Maybe it's luck, or perhaps the pace, pressure and pounding have heightened his instincts to elude the severest confrontations.
''I think he's learned to protect himself a little better,'' says U.S. coach Bruce Arena of McBride's mostly clean bill of health stemming from his move to Fulham of the English Premier League in January 2004. ''He hasn't had too many broken noses or cheekbones over the last couple of years.''
Says McBride, the all-time U.S. leader in qualifying goals with 10 and second on the goalscoring charts with 29: ''That's been good. Nothing crazy has happened, and knock on wood, it won't.''
There are no complications stemming from blood clots that twice hospitalized him, and facial reconstructions have repaired the damage of fearless, sometimes reckless, play.
''He has unbelievable courage and commitment to put himself in situations he consistently does,'' says Fire coach Dave Sarachan, who was Arena's national team assistant from 2000 to 2002 and coached against McBride in MLS. ''He comes away on the good end many times, but as we all know, he's come out on the bad end, too.
''It truly speaks to his character that he's that much older, and he's had the surgeries, the injuries, the hospitalizations, and all the rest, yet he still goes into these games with the intention that he'll do whatever it takes to help his team win and help his team get goals.''
Fate in many ways has been rough on McBride, yet a persistent, little-boy smile and pleasant demeanor seldom reveal the physical abuse and mental anguish of his past. With wife Dina and two daughters, McBride has found an ideal sanctuary from the hype and hurly-burly of his profession.
He cites his mother extraordinaire, Maddie, as the single biggest influence in his life and gives a lot of credit to John Erfort and Joe Clarke, his high school and college coaches, respectively, as well.
''He's a great guy, a family guy, a leader on the field and off it, too,'' says U.S. teammate Eddie Pope, himself a father of two children who broke into the starting lineup at about the same time McBride did nearly a decade ago. ''Because of the league he's playing in and the things he's done, younger guys are going to look up to him automatically anyway. When you also do the things off the field and in the locker room to help the team, he's kind of the total package.''
As the total package, McBride will play a crucial role in U.S. attempts to escape Group E at the World Cup. After scoring one goal in '98 and two in '02, he may be poised to contribute even more this time around. And against Italy, Czech Republic and Ghana, he'll have to excel.
FULHAM FULCRUM. McBride hadn't scored in eight consecutive games when Fulham hosted Charlton the day before Easter. At the end of 90 minutes that streak had run to nine, yet Fulham had won, 2-1, on two fine goals by Luis Boa Morte, one of which was set up by a typically precise yet unspectacular touch by the American.
As a long kick dropped out of the sky, McBride peeled away from his marker. When the ball arrived, he guided a glancing header into Boa Morte's path as the powerful Portuguese attacker surged through midfield. Boa Morte did the rest, knocking the ball through and past two defenders before drilling it into the net.
''That's my job,'' said McBride matter-of-factly. ''It's great to score goals, but there are a lot of other ways I can help the team win.''
In the same game, McBride fended off challenges to win a free kick at the edge of the Charlton penalty area, and late in the match he knocked a clever ball wide for Wayne Bridge to run onto, with time and space to cross the ball. On neither occasion did Fulham score, but from McBride's diligence on and off the ball opportunities arose.
Fulham management surprised McBride in February by offering him a one-year extension to the contract he signed in 2004 that pays him more than $1 million per season. He and Dina had planned a return to America at the end of the current season; instead, they'll stay another year.
WORLD CUP III. McBride turns 34 during the World Cup, yet Arena believes he may be more effective at the top level than he was four years ago thanks to the regular diet of hard competition he's encountered.
''He's become a better player by being in England,'' says Arena. ''Each and every game is a tremendous challenge for a forward in that league. His team is direct so he sees the ball a lot. You get used to holding off a defender or two defenders. He's had a lot more repetitions in tougher games and doing things that aren't easy for forwards and I think it's helped him round out his game a lot more.''
His two goals at the 2002 World Cup are well-documented but who remembers what preceded John O'Brien's pouncing on a Victor Baia bobble to score the first goal against Portugal? Yep, a rasping McBride header too hot for Baia to handle.
McBride played shortstop as a youth, but when his Little League coach – John Lundstrom, Dina's father – suggested he give up soccer to concentrate on baseball, he stayed with soccer and took up tennis, another sport requiring short, sharp bursts of speed and nimble footwork. Volleyball added power to his legs and sharpened his prowess in the air, which from his earliest days on the national team impressed everyone.
''That makes him dangerous, that he's so good in the air, so defenses are constantly worrying about balls coming from wide, or from goal kicks he'll be flicking the ball onto other players running through,'' says Pope. ''He's a good target guy, on balls played into his feet, he's strong and good at laying balls off, and then he's running into the box after he's laid it off, and then you've got to defend him on the cross again. He's got his game down pat and as a defender those are the things you have to worry about.''
Until McBride came along, most American attackers were delighted just to get their heads on the ball, and even if it rebounded off their heads and caromed yards over the crossbar or sailed over the touchline, they would claim to have ''won the ball.'' McBride's headers fall for teammates, or threaten the opponent's goal.
GOALS, AND MORE. Like all forwards, McBride has struggled through scoreless streaks and sailed on fruitful runs, but unlike many of his ilk, his game is far more varied than that of a poacher lounging in the goalmouth or a traditional target man of imposing stature and little else.
There are the duels during which he stands strong with the ball at his feet, withstanding kicks and elbows and shoves while his teammates advance, and the aerial slugfests in goalmouth melees or midfield thickets, and the grinding rigor of hounding opponents.
''He works for 90 minutes each and every game,'' says Arena, a believer that McBride's growing versatility over the past few years has greatly increased his value. ''He gets involved in plays that keep the ball alive for his team to win, which is a quality that's very rare in forwards.
''There are games where we're not blessed with a lot of possession, but off goal kicks or a ball in the air or 50-50 balls, Brian's there. He not only wins the ball but he puts teammates in a position to win it.''
Pressuring the opposition is a staple of Arena's system. More than a few forwards – Jeff Cunningham, Clint Mathis, Jovan Kirovski come to mind – blessed with attacking talents couldn't hack the physical and psychological demands of full-game, full-field commitment.
McBride scored 17 goals in the inaugural 1996 MLS season, but as Columbus management added pure goalscorers, including Cunningham and Stern John, he refined his game.
''It started my first year in Columbus,'' he remembers. ''I was the guy everybody looked for to score goals. Of course, it's a lot of fun doing it, but then Stern came, and Jeff, there were players on that team who were extremely good at scoring goals. Other things were needed and I needed to adapt but also get myself into spots to score goals.
''Probably then I started to try to figure out how I can best help the team. It was a good process for me, it helped me to understand more about the game and what I needed to do to help the team.''
That creed has taken him to England, where after riding a period of bench time due to Fulham manager Chris Coleman's preference to play with just one striker, he's emerged as a dependable, resilient contributor.
''Coaches who have him either in their team or playing against them realize all the things that go with a good forward that don't necessarily show on the scoresheet,'' says Sarachan. ''Positioning, showing for balls, pressuring defenders, and this isn't bits and pieces over 90 minutes, it's a true 90-minute, come-to-work effort.
''You hear it from Coleman and Bruce. He's the consummate pro, he's the ultimate guy to have in your team. Whether he gets goals or not, he's going to help you in that part of the field. You always know what you get. It's clear, every game, every training.''
Sarachan may be a bit biased. The McBrides hosted his son, Ian, in their home while he attended the Fulham youth academy in March for a week of training. But that's what you get with Brian McBride, the total package.
''I can only express again the class this guy has,'' says Sarachan. ''He went out of his way to make sure Ian had an enjoyable, memorable experience. He and Dina are phenomenal people. This guy is something, he really is.''
(This article originally appeared in the May 2006 issue of Soccer America Magazine.)