ôBob [Bradley] called me and we had a nice conversation over the phone and he had one question for me. He said ‘Do you still love to play?’ I said ‘Yeah.’ and he said, ‘Good, because I just traded for you.’ “The national team has been functioning very well on its own. I don’t think that the national team needs me to come back and play for them.” — Eric Wynalda He may be the most outstanding goalscorer in U.S. soccer history, but in his 6-year MLS career 32-year-old Eric Wynalda has been plagued by injuries while playing on struggling teams. Now Wynalda leads the Chicago Fire in scoring with nine goals. HeÆs just one strike shy of matching his best MLS year — 10 goals with San Jose in the inaugural 1996 MLS season. On Aug. 14, Wynalda fielded questions during MLSÆs weekly press conference. Wynalda on whether he thinks he’ll get recalled to the national team: “It’s pretty simple. It’s not up to me. I think Bruce [Arena] is going to have another week to finalize his roster. It would be really exciting for me and an honor to have that opportunity again. It’s something that I’d be lying to say that I wasn’t thinking about it. But I’m really concentrating on what I’m doing here [in Chicago[. With Ante [Razov]and Chris [Armas], we expect to lose them for the next World Cup qualifier and that may mean it’d be more important for me to stay with the Fire.” Wynalda on the difference between the 2001 Fusion and the team he was a member of last year: “I believe they made some really good moves. Doug Hamilton should receive some credit for that. Getting a guy like Carlos Llamosa and Ian Bishop. Then making a pretty risky trade to get a guy like Chris Henderson, who has done so much for that team with Preki and Alex Pineda Chacon. It’s a different team and a team that other coaches have a hard time figuring out. ôThey play the game so well. As a fan of sport, you love to watch guys like Preki do what they do. The goal he scored last week against the Revolution — I’m a fan of that. Having those type of players that can really light it up with Diego [Serna] too has made it an unpredictable team. And the one thing they’ve stayed true to is staying unpredictable and [Coach] Ray Hudson has done a great job managing it. It’s a very exciting team that I think everybody in this team likes to watch. “The team when I was there was much different. We did not have a good mix of players. We had two many offensive-minded players and we didn’t have an Ian Bishop or a Jim Rooney who was playing in the right spot. I think the way that team has been managed has made the difference and the moves they made in the offseason. To me I think they’re using all their strengths and all their weapons the right way.” Wynalda on what has changed in him as a player: “I’m trying to repress the last two years from my memory. I’ve just been more of a dad than a soccer player. I re-evaluated a lot of things. I’m in a good spot in Chicago with a good coach. I feel like I have the support of my teammates, the people around me and the fans of Chicago who are absolutely wonderful. ôI’m in a good place and I’m at peace with everything and it makes going to work fun and good results are happening. That’s all part of it. It’s been a good move for me and I’m happy about it. “In the past I think I’ve always had a little too much responsibility and pressure on me on and off the field to be too many things. I thought I could handle that type of pressure but I didn’t do a good job with it. ôBeing here has allowed me to come to work, be a soccer player, and when that part is over I’m able to enjoy that other part of my life which is the family. That’s the most important thing. When I was trying to manage everything and rehab an ACL, I didn’t do a very good job of dedicating the time to that injury. I rushed back a little too quickly and I just had too many things on my plate as a father. I could have done a better job with it. I think now that the dust has settled and I have a better balance in my life, it’s carried on to the field.” Wynalda on when the last time it was he had fun playing soccer: “There have been spurts when I have enjoyed it but some of the pressures and responsibilities in the past had weighed me down and I got beat up. Now I’m able to go out there and enjoy it. And I have a guy like Peter Nowak on my team which makes a big difference. For me to have a guy who is a true playmaker brings so much to our team. ôThat’s one of the things I’ve never really had on any of the other teams I’ve played for – a guy I could develop a relationship with on and off the field and when we get out there we click and it works. It’s fun. I think it’s been so long that I don’t even remember when was the last time I had this much fun.” Wynalda on whether he was surprised that he adapted so quickly with the Chicago Fire: “Not really. I think that this team is a great mix of guys who are blue-collar, hard-working guys. We’re a very honest team and very honest with each other. Every team has its problems throughout the year but Bob [Bradley] does a really good job of keeping the team tight. We discuss our problems and get them out of the way. Nothing lingers and nothing is left to speculation. We’re just able to stick together and be a good team. Being a part of that kind of team is neat for me because I haven’t seen that in the past.” Wynalda on how he fits in with the other Fire forwards after the addition of Ante Razov: “For me personally it might be a situation for me where I might have to come off the bench or even Hristo [Stoitchkov] will come off the bench. If you ask any other team, that’s not a bad situation for us to be in — to be able to replace one guy with the other. In games where Hristo has come off the bench, he’s been phenomenal for us. Whichever way it goes, it’s going to be an advantage for us. ôWe have some important games coming up and we’re going to need all the bodies we can get to get through this tough stretch. We’ve talked about it and it might be a rotation. It’s a very competitive situation for all of us and we have to rely on the fact that the guy in the best form will play. When Josh [Wolff] comes back, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” Wynalda on whether the trade to Chicago made him more determined to prove himself: “I don’t think that’s important. I’m sick of reading about myself being the all-time leading goalscorer [in U.S. national team history]. I don’t think that really defines who I am. Things got to the point where I didn’t even know if I was going to continue playing if it meant in New England. ôSo under the circumstances, the way things played out, I couldn’t have been more happy with it. Bob [Bradley] called me and we had a nice conversation over the phone and he had one question for me. He said ‘Do you still love to play?’ I said ‘Yeah’ and he said ‘Good, because I just traded for you.’ The next day I was there and scored against Tampa and we went from there. It was a situation where I felt the environment wasn’t really conducive to me being able to be a soccer player. It might work for other guys but it wasn’t working for me in New England. I was happy to have the opportunity to come to Chicago. It’s no discredit to John Wolyniec. I think he’s a tremendous player and I think it’s unfortunate he’s not in the league right now. I think he should be.” Wynalda on whether he feels he deserves a spot on the national team: “I don’t think I deserve anything yet. The national team has been functioning very well on its own. I don’t think that the national team needs me to come back and play for them. I don’t think that’s the case. If Bruce [Arena] thinks he needs someone like me to get him a goal or be a sub, then there might be an opportunity there. It certainly isn’t a situation where I’m feeling like ‘When am I going to get my shot because I feel like I’m playing well.’ That isn’t the case. “I know how these things work and I’m familiar with all the guys playing with the national team. Since Josh and Clint (Mathis) have injuries that will take a while, that’s why people have brought it up. It would be an unbelievable opportunity but at this point I’m not spending too much time thinking about it because it hasn’t happened yet. And I won’t think about it until the phone rings. We’ll have to wait and see and I just have to keep playing as hard as I can for my team.”