SAN FRANCISCO – From the unforgettable goals in the 2002 World Cup to his bloodied face four years later, Brian McBride has been part of some of the most memorable moments in US men’s national team history, as well as a boon to the reputation of the American game abroad.
No surprise, then, to see him inducted into the US Soccer Hall of Fame on Saturday evening, along with Bob Bradley and Kristine Lilly, two equally recognizable names in the world of American soccer.
“The moment that so many people remember – aside from the great goals, and there were many of those, was playing through in Kaiserlautern after the head injury and blood, against Italy,” US Soccer president Sunil Gulati said during McBride's induction ceremony at the 2015 US Soccer Annual General Meeting's Anniversary Dinner, referencing that famous incident in the 2006 World Cup.
In a fashion reminiscent of that selfless on-field persona, McBride had little to say about himself throughout the ceremony, instead thanking family, friends, teammates and coaches for their support in a professional career that spanned 16 years, three World Cups and 96 US national team caps. Even before the ceremony, he wasn’t entirely sure he could put the award into perspective with all his other career accolades.
“It’s [a tough honor] to rank. It’s something that you don’t think about achieving when you’re playing,” McBride told MLSsoccer.com. “Individually, it’s an amazing accomplishment, but it’s also due to a lot of what’s going on with my teammates and my coaches and the influences they’ve had on me. On the personal side of it, I’m extremely honored, but I don’t know how to put it into relevance, in a sense, because everything before me has been a part of a group,. It’s just sort of a standalone thing that I’ll cherish.”
In addition to his accomplishments with the national team, McBride built a career that saw sustained levels of success both in MLS and in the English Premier League. It all began with his being selected No. 1 over in the inaugural MLS draft, followed by eight years with Columbus Crew SC, from 1996-2003. Over that span, he made 183 total appearances (regular season and playoffs) and scored 71 goals.
Following the 2003 MLS season, he moved to Fulham and set a new standard for the reputation of the American player in England. From 2004-2008, he scored 41 goals in 164 total appearances for the club, was voted the team’s player of the year in 2005 and 2006, and remains a club legend. He even has a bar in Fulham's stadium, Craven Cottage, named after him.
“Being a part of that group that started to gain more views, hopefully get other players more chances, that’s a great thing,” he said. “It’s never an easy thing, you have to battle through and make adjustments just like any player, whether you’re coming out of college and going to MLS, whether you’re coming out of high school and going to MLS now, going from college or youth national team or an MLS team to Europe, you always have to adapt.
In 2008, the Chicago native returned to MLS and suited up for his hometown Fire. Dangerous even in his late 30s, he managed 65 appearances and 19 goals over three seasons.
McBride's experiences on both sides of the Atlantic have afforded him a unique point of view on the ongoing debate over whether Americans are best-served playing in MLS or in Europe. This is especially acute for McBride, who had an unsuccessful spell with German club Wolfsburg prior to his joining Columbus in 1996.
“Going to Wolfsburg, I mentally was not ready, I wasn’t prepared to play the psychological games.…I didn’t do well,” he recalled. “Being able to come back, get my feet really underneath me. The good things I understood – what it was to be a professional and what it was I needed to do. So it gave me that basis. Then, being able to really hone those things that I needed to work on allowed me, the next time, to go prepared.”
Since he called time on his playing career in 2010, McBride has stayed largely involved in a variety of soccer activities, running his own youth academy, working part-time as an assistant coach with the Fire, and until recently commentating for Fox Sports. Currently, he keeps busy running his human resources firm, SurePeople. But he himself seems sure to continue a career in soccer in some capacity.
“I want to stay involved in soccer," he said. "I’m very happy where I’m at, but I certainly have a desire and a passion to be at the higher levels soccer, whether it’s coaching or other.”
