Brian McBride
Encyclopedia : B : BR : BRI : Brian McBride
Brian McBride (born June 19, 1972 in Arlington Heights, Illinois) is an American football (soccer) player, who currently plays forward for Fulham of the English FA 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 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.
McBride played varsity soccer at Buffalo Grove High School, under coach John Erfort, where he led the Bison to a state championship in 1988, his junior year. 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.
After an illustrious career with Saint Louis University, from which he graduated in 1993, McBride briefly played for the minor league Milwaukee Rampage before leaving the United States to ply his trade overseas. 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.
McBride is also a significant player for the United States national team, with whom he made his debut in 1993. McBride has played 90 games and scored 30 goals for the national team (as of early 2006), 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 tied with 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, who donated $100 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.
External links
- from [Yanks Abroad]
- *[Player profile]
- *[Game reports and other articles]
- [Fulham bio]
- [SLU Bio]
- [The Brian McBride Site]
- [Brian McBride's bio on usolympicteam.com]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.