McBride's storied career coming to an end
John Erfort had a simple message for his Buffalo Grove High School boys soccer team during a team practice, and he broadcast it nice and loud for every player to hear:
“Buffalo Grove shoot free kicks from 45 yards out,” Erfort shouted. “We'll take a touch or two to get closer and then put the shot on goal.”
Then one of his players “not cocky or anything” suggested otherwise. I can put it in from here, the junior said.
Erfort dared the kid to try it, and darned if Brian McBride didn't blast the ball past an unsuspecting goalkeeper.
Do that again, Erfort said, this time with the goalkeeper expecting it.
And McBride did. And Erfort reversed himself.
“I yelled, ‘Buffalo Grove shoots free kicks from here,' ” Erfort said, chuckling at the 20-year-old memory.
“There was always something that he could do to surprise everybody,” said Erfort, now an assistant at Lake Park. “I never saw some of the things he did, and I've never seen anyone do some of those things since then.”
Then again, American soccer legends don't come along every day.
But now it's time for the greatest player in American soccer history to go. McBride retired from international competition a couple of years ago, and Saturday's game in Los Angeles against Chivas USA (9 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel) marks the final club match of his long and storied professional career.
The Chicago Fire, McBride's current club, threw a going-away party for him at last weekend's final home match of the season, making the Chivas match a little anti-climactic.
“I haven't put much thought into this, other than that it's a game,” McBride said after Tuesday's practice. “This past weekend was sort of the main buildup. My wife (Dina) put a lot of effort into getting all my friends and family there. It was extremely special what the organization did for me. And the amount of fans that stuck around, it was pretty amazing all around.”
It was a little more than two years ago that the McBrides chose to leave Fulham in the English Premier League and return home to Chicago to finish his playing career with the Fire.
“You never know what's going to happen,” McBride said. “I would've loved to have won a championship, but life is awesome. Our family is settled. Our kids are loving the school they're in. We're loving the fact that they're in that school and the friends they have.
“That's what we wanted. We wanted our kids to be able to grow up the way both of us did. The neighborhood is a great neighborhood to raise kids.”
Now, to the amazement of his kids Ashley, 10, Ella, 7, and Freya, 2 on Thursday and their friends, he will find a new career, possibly building a soccer academy, but definitely staying involved in the game in some way.
As he should. He's got a lot to offer.
Which brings us to one final story from Erfort, this one of a more recent vintage.
A group was putting together a “Teachers Count” poster featuring celebrities of all kinds to put in schools and promote education. They decided they wanted a professional soccer player and started polling people from the American soccer community.
Who should we get?
When they found Erfort, they told him the results of their survey.
“Anybody I talked to said you've got to get Brian McBride,” Erfort recalls being told.
It was an endorsement not just of McBride's playing ability but of the respect he earned off the field as well.
“Every time I see him, he's so much more than just an athlete,” Erfort said.
Fame and fortune never overwhelmed McBride as it seems to do to many pro athletes. He always had a warm smile and a friendly handshake for teammates, fans, stadium employees, even for bothersome reporters.
“It's been fun,” McBride said.
For us, too.
oschwarz@dailyherald.com