Brian McBride

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For other people of the same name, see Brian McBride (disambiguation).

Personal information
Brian McBride

Full name	Brian McBride
Date of birth	June 19 1972 (age 37)
Place of birth	Arlington Heights, IL, United States
Height	6 ft 0 in
Nickname	Super Mac, Macca, Bake.
Position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Fulham
Number	20
Youth clubs
1990-1994	St. Louis University
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1994 1994-95 1996-2003 2000 2002 2004-	Milwaukee Rampage VfL Wolfsburg Columbus Crew Preston North End (loan) Everton (loan) Fulham	18 (17) 18 (2) 161 (62) 9 (1) 8 (4) 97 (22)
National team**
1993–2006	United States	95 (30)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 31 May 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 22 June 2006.

Brian McBride (born June 19, 1972 in Arlington Heights, Illinois, United States) is an American football (soccer) player, who currently plays as a striker for Fulham of the English Premier League.

Fulham bought McBride from Major League Soccer on January 19, 2004. Before joining Fulham, he had previously played in England for Everton in 2002 and Preston North End in 2000. Before that, McBride played for VfL Wolfsburg of the German 2 Bundesliga and the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer, for whom he was a fan favorite. McBride was most recently named Fulham FC Player of the Season for 2005-2006 by Fulham supporters.

1 High School
2 Saint Louis University
3 Milwaukee Rampage
4 Germany
5 Major League Soccer
6 Loan Spells in England
7 Fulham
8 National Team
9 External links

[edit] High School

McBride played varsity soccer at Buffalo Grove High School, under coach John Erfort, where he led the Bison to the Illinois state championship in 1988, his junior year. In his four years in high school, he scored 80 goals, 33 as a senior. He was All State, All Midwest and a Parade All American. Later, as a professional, he signed a contract with Nike with the condition that the boys' varsity soccer team receive new uniforms every two years. McBride's support of his old school team continued when he attended numerous training sessions there during a spell out from his professional team, Columbus Crew, with a blood clot.

[edit] Saint Louis University

McBride had an illustrious career with Saint Louis University, from which he graduated in 1993. In his four seasons with the Billikens, he played (and started) in 89 games, scoring 72 goals and assisting on another 40. He holds all of the school's individual scoring records, including season and career.

[edit] Milwaukee Rampage

McBride briefly played for the minor league Milwaukee Rampage. In 18 games, he scored 17 goals and assisted another 18. That year also saw Tony Sanneh playing with the Rampage. Both Sanneh and McBride would play professionally in Germany, in MLS and on the U.S. men's national team.

They linked up for a historic goal at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. In the game against Portugal, Sanneh, playing right back, played a cross into the box which McBride scored put into the top corner. After the game, McBride mentioned, "We joked about it in the locker room, it is a play we have done a thousand times (at the Milwaukee Rampage). I took a step in at the far post and lost my marker. He delivered a beautiful cross and I knocked it home."

[edit] Germany

In 1994, McBride left the United States to ply his trade in Germay. At the time, VfL Wolfsburg played in the German Second Division and provided several aspiring American players an opportunity to play European ball. These included Chad Deering, Claudio Reyna and Mike Lapper, as well as McBride. McBride struggled to find playing time with the club and also had difficulty scoring. However, one of his two goals came in an 2-1 upset victory over Bayern Munich in the German Cup quarterfinals. At the end of the season, McBride gained a release from Wolfsburg and when MLS was created, chose to return to play in the United States.

[edit] Major League Soccer

McBride returned to America in 1996 for the inaugural season of Major League Soccer, for whom he was the first overall pick of the MLS Inaugural Draft. McBride would proceed to play eight years with the Columbus Crew, amassing 62 goals (tied for the club record with Jeff Cunningham) and 45 assists in 161 league games, before his move to England. In 2005, he was named to the MLS All-Time Best XI.

[edit] Loan Spells in England

While playing for Columbus in the MLS, McBride spent two loan periods in England. The first was with Preston North End. The second was with Premiership club Everton where he was reunited with the manager he had played with at Preston. He made an immediate impact in Everton, which at the time was beginning a slide down the table. He scored in his first game, against Tottenham and went on to score a total of four in his eight games with the team

Both teams were sufficiently impressed to attempt to purchase McBride's rights from MLS, but on both occasions, MLS turned them down as too low for such an outstanding player

[edit] Fulham

In 2004, English Premiership club Fulham bought McBride's rights from MLS for $1.5 million and young central midfielder Connor Partos who later returned to the English Club. Brian has a reputation as a battler with a high work rate, a trait prized in English soccer.

McBride is currently Fulham's top scorer for their 2006-07 Premiership campaign with 5 goals to his name. He is also Fulham's second highest scoring player in their current squad (with 24) behind Luis Boa Morte (with 54).

[edit] National Team

McBride was also a significant player for the United States national team, with whom he made his debut in 1993. He announced his retirement from international soccer July 26th 2006. McBride played 95 games and scored 30 goals for the national team and perhaps most importantly played and scored goals in both the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, becoming the only American to score goals in more than one World Cup. Both goals scored in the 2002 tournament were game-winners for the United States (versus Portugal and Mexico). On May 2, 2006, McBride was named to the US roster for his 3rd consecutive World Cup. He is second behind Bert Patenaude for the most World Cup goals for an American with three. McBride is the first-ever spokesperson for the Central Ohio Diabetes Association. He donated $100 to the association for every goal and assist he tallied for the U.S. National Team.

In World Cup 2006 McBride was severely bloodied against the Group Play match against Italy. Daniele De Rossi elbowed McBride in the face, requiring the American to get three stitches. De Rossi later apologized to McBride (who subsequently praised De Rossi as "classy" for approaching him after the match). De Rossi was banned for four matches and fined CHF 10,000.

On Wednesday, July 26th, 2006, Brian McBride retired from international soccer for the U.S.[1]

[edit] External links

Preceded by: Mark Chung	MLS Fair Play Award Winner 2003	Succeeded by: Eddie Pope

Image:Flag of the United States.svg	United States squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup	Image:Flag of the United States.svg
1 Friedel \| 2 Hejduk \| 3 Pope \| 4 Burns \| 5 Dooley \| 6 Regis \| 7 Wegerle \| 8 Stewart \| 9 Moore \| 10 Ramos \| 11 Wynalda \| 12 Agoos \| 13 Jones \| 14 Preki \| 15 Deering \| 16 Sommer \| 17 Balboa \| 18 Keller \| 19 Maisonneuve \| 20 McBride \| 21 Reyna \| 22 Lalas \| Coach: Sampson

Image:Flag of the United States.svg	United States squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists	Image:Flag of the United States.svg
1 Friedel \| 2 Hejduk \| 3 Berhalter \| 4 Mastroeni \| 5 O'Brien \| 6 Regis \| 7 Lewis \| 8 Stewart \| 9 Moore \| 10 Reyna \| 11 Mathis \| 12 Agoos \| 13 Jones \| 14 Cherundolo \| 15 Wolff \| 16 Llamosa \| 17 Beasley \| 18 Keller \| 19 Meola \| 20 McBride \| 21 Donovan \| 22 Sanneh \| 23 Pope \| Coach: Arena

Image:Flag of the United States.svg	United States squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup	Image:Flag of the United States.svg
1 Howard \| 2 Albright \| 3 Bocanegra \| 4 Mastroeni \| 5 O'Brien \| 6 Cherundolo \| 7 Lewis \| 8 Dempsey \| 9 Johnson \| 10 Reyna \| 11 Ching \| 12 Berhalter \| 13 Conrad \| 14 Olsen \| 15 Convey \| 16 Wolff \| 17 Beasley \| 18 Keller \| 19 Hahnemann \| 20 McBride \| 21 Donovan \| 22 Onyewu \| 23 Pope \| Coach: Arena

Fulham F.C. - Current Squad

Major League Soccer \| MLS All-Time Best XI
Tony Meola \| Jeff Agoos \| Marcelo Balboa \| Eddie Pope \| Landon Donovan \| Marco Etcheverry Piotr Nowak \| Preki \| Carlos Valderrama \| Brian McBride \| Jaime Moreno