It's official: McBride on Fire
Fire technical director Frank Klopas had reason to smile and enjoy Wednesday night's friendly against Everton - a 2-0 Fire victory - after landing the biggest prize of the Major League Soccer season.
The Fire officially concluded its trade with Toronto FC when Arlington Heights native Brian McBride signed a contract with the league through the 2009 season. The trade sent Fire leading scorer Chad Barrett, a first-round draft pick and conditional future considerations to Toronto for the 36-year-old target striker.
"It's an exciting time for myself and my family," McBride said via teleconference Wednesday night from Hong Kong, where he is preparing for the Olympics. "It's something I've looked forward to for a long time."
Because of his Olympic duty, McBride will miss the next 2-4 games while in China. He said he expects to join his new club as soon as he returns, though he hopes it won't be for a few weeks yet.
"I'd jump right back in," the Buffalo Grove High School graduate said. "This is something I've been wanting to do for a while. I'd jump right back in."
McBride showed over the past 4 seasons at Fulham he can still play at the highest level.
Twice he was the English Premier League club's player of the year. He missed much of the 2007-08 season due to a dislocated kneecap but came back in February to lead the Cottagers out of the relegation zone.
"My goal is to continue on playing at a high level as long as I can," McBride said, indicating this might not be his final contract.
Following the Fire's game online from Hong Kong, McBride had to enjoy his new teammates' work against Everton, another EPL team in preseason training, in front of 9,125.
The Fire opened the scoring with a 43rd-minute goal by McBride's likely new strike partner, Chris Rolfe. It was an impressive goal, coming off a give-and-go between defender Gonzalo Segares and midfielder Justin Mapp, with rookie forward Patrick Nyarko nicely dummying Segares' assist to Rolfe.
The Fire, fielding a second set of players in the second half, scored again in the 70th minute. Rookie Peter Lowry's shot from the right side was saved by American goalkeeper Tim Howard, but Tomasz Frankowski tapped the ball into the net near the left post as it rolled toward the endline.
Klopas actually acquired two players Wednesday, getting speedy midfielder Marco Pappa on loan from CSD Municipal of Guatemala. Pappa, who will be with the Fire the rest of this season and the 2009 season, replaces Calen Carr on the roster. Carr tore his ACL and is out for the season.
The game was briefly interrupted in the 85th minute when two fans wearing Everton colors ran on the field.