PLAYER PROFILE

Brian McBride

Position: Forward

Height: 6'1

Weight: 12st 2lbs

Date of Birth: 1972-06-19 Arlington Heights, Illinois, USA

Brian McBride

In January 2004, American striker Brian McBride joined Fulham from Columbus Crew, finally getting the chance to shine in England on a permanent basis after two successful loan deals.

A year earlier he enjoyed a successful three-month loan spell with Everton, but returned to the States in time for the start of the new Major League Soccer season.

That was his second spell with David Moyes, as McBride was at Preston North End on loan in 2000, where he impressed but was unable to make the move permanent as MLS would not let him leave. Since then, he has continued to perform well for 'the Crew', and made a big impression in the 2002 World Cup.

He scored the winning goals for Team USA as they earned famous victories over Portugal and Mexico on their way to the quarter-finals. Moyes decided to bring him back to England for a loan spell to cover for his injury-plagued strikers, and give youngsters Wayne Rooney and Nick Chadwick a rest. During his X month spell, McBride netted eight goals.

Again Moyes tried to make the move permanent, but again found the Americans unwilling to let McBride stay. Fortunately for Chris Coleman, Fulham were more successful in their attempts and McBride's arrival comes just in time after the sale of Louis Saha, although the club insisted McBride was not Saha's replacement.

McBride made his debut for Fulham in January's 2-1 victory over Tottenham and got off to a great start, scoring Fulham's second and winning goal. He made 18 appearances before the end of the 2003/04 season and bagged five Premiership goals.

This success continued into the 2004/05 season. All in all, he made 37 appearances and scored 9 goals as he became an important part of Fulham's frontline. In 2005/06 he built up a good partnership with Heidar Helguson and scored ten goals, though couldn't find the net for the USA in their disappointing World Cup 2006 campaign.