Target Forwards: The McBride Question

[Elninho]

After the third straight mediocre performance from McBride, I think it's time to rethink his status in the team. No, I'm not advocating that we flat-out drop him in favor of Casey or Ching - but we do need to reevaluate his role.

First of all, I'm going to say that I do not think he is over-the-hill just yet. He still scored at a decent per-minute rate in the EPL this season, including two goals on the last day.

I'm also going to, in advance, note another factor that we should take into consideration: namely, that the last three matches have been basically friendlies. Grenada was a weak enough opponent that the US can beat them without playing at full speed, and Poland was in fact a friendly. As a veteran player, McBride may not have been going all-out, while as we saw against Poland, Ching is a younger player trying hard to impress Bruce Arena. That alone may account for a large part of the difference in their performances.

But at the same time, it's been a long time since McBride put together a strong performance against a team with big, physical defenders. The most recent that I remember was the 1-0 friendly loss to South Korea in December 2001, and even in that match he was most impressive controlling and passing the ball on the ground, not winning headers.

So we need to consider again what McBride is and what he is not. In my own opinion, he is more technically competent than even many of his supporters give him credit for. He's good at holding the ball when it's played to his feet - which seems to be rarely the case - and works hard defensively. I believe he said once, in 2001 or early 2002, that he preferred to have the ball played to his feet, and he also played as a holding midfielder for a large part of one MLS season.

Why, then, do we have him penciled in as our #1 target forward? I think it's because his heading technique is better than anyone else we have. (He's also only a decent MLS-level defensive midfielder, but that's another issue entirely.) No other American player is as good at placing headers, whether on goal or at a teammate's feet. He's our first choice target forward because one of those flick-ons can instantly break open a defense, and because any header he wins in the box is likely to be on target. However, these skills are only useful if one actually wins the headers in the first place. Winning the headers often depends physical strength, and I think McBride is somewhat lacking in this department. That's why he seems so dominant against Central American opponents, as well as against Portugal, and mediocre against teams like Germany, Poland, and even Grenada.

Casey and Ching, on the other hand, are physically much stronger. While they're not as technically skilled, and therefore not as likely to do good things with the ball when they win it in the air, they will at least win more headers. Against most CONCACAF opponents, this hardly matters, as McBride will win those headers anyway, and create more scoring chances when he does - but against teams that use big, strong central defenders, it's better to have someone who will actually win the ball.

Casey or Ching may eventually displace McBride as their technical skills improve. For now I still think McBride should play against most teams, especially in CONCACAF where most teams are relatively small, but Casey or Ching should be seriously considered when facing more physical opposition.

[SABuffalo786]

Pretty much. Ride him through qualifiying, and hopefully when June 2006 rolls around, either Casey, Ching, or Twellman will be ready to take over.

[Elninho]

The general idea is actually something like this: our next opponents are Jamaica, El Salvador, and Panama. I have no doubts McBride will score goals and pretty much be dominant against El Salvador and Panama. But Jamaica usually shows up with at least one big, physical center back, which means McBride's ability to win the ball will be reduced. If we play Ching (how long is Casey out, anyway?) against Jamaica, while we may be sacrificing McBride's precision headers, it may be worthwhile in order to win the ball more often.

[SABuffalo786]

4-6 weeks, was it, for Casey?


I have to go the possesion route here. It's the key to succeeding on away days in Concacaf. If Ching means we have a better chance to hold possesion than we would with an already grounded McBride, then by all means, play him. Plus he also brings the club chemistry from San Jose with Donovan and Mullan that we all saw play so well today with his first touch.

[smith07]

i agree that we should not forget about twellman

[cpwilson80]

Without starting another discussion on it, Ching played well last night and showed he definitely deserves more time with the team.

Twellman also played fairly well for the Revs last night in his first game back, and should still be in the picture.

[denver_mugwamp]

I think this whole thread points out the fact that there isn't an obvious choice for a target forward with the USMNT. There's a lot of candidates. McBride is getting up in years and is beginning to show some wear and tear. Buddle would be great if he could stay healthy. Wolff appears to be on the downhill slide. They keep holding the door open for Johnson but he never seems to go through it. Ching is unproven at the international level. Twellman is more of a poacher than a target player. MLS doesn't seem to help with developing forwards since this is the position where teams are most likely to bring in foreign players. Because they've got limited international slots, most teams want to use them to get some players who will put balls in the net. I don't know the answer but I think Bruce has his work cut out for him.

[MLSNHTOWN]

I think that McBride has continually shown that he has what it takes at this level. Obviously he has had the summer off from his club, so I won't hold this one performance (or his last two-three for that matter) as damning of the value that he has brought in the past. However, his bad games have come lately with our box midfield. IN particular, the move of Donovan from forward to midfield has hurt McBride's effectiveness.

Regardless the move is a positive one and will most likely be a permanent one. McBride might be losing his effectiveness overall as a target striker. Obviously, Arena will have to gauge when he thinks that McBride gets passed by Casey and/or Ching. As much as I like to say that i have faith that Arena will do that when the time is right, I doubt that he will. (See Jeff Agoos).

McBride will most likely have a definite impact in the next round of qualifying and even in the hex. That being said, by the time the next world cup comes around I don't know if he will be up to snuff at the international level. Hopefully Ching and/or Casey can replace him. There ability to hold the ball up for the midfield is up to par. Whether their ability to score at the international level is something that has yet to be tested.

McBride is extremely fit, marks well on set pieces and is extremely athletic. That being said, if his game falls off a bit, he will still bring somethings to the table. Hopefully other options will step up there game. Time will tell.

[onefineesq]

I'm amazed at how many people are open to the possibility of grooming another "target forward" in this thread. When i brought this up before it was fashionable, I was ripped. McBride is clearly getting to a point where he is not going to be effective game after game. He'll have a great game, and then 2 games where you don't notice him on the field, much like yesterday (outside of the missed penalty of course). I think that we keep forgetting, that in a WC, where we would be playing every 4th of 5th day, the schedule becomes twice as taxing for the older player, and that is true even for the older player whose skills haven't declined. I've said this since 2002 ......... if McBride and Reyna are looked at as our most important players in 2006, the US is in dire straits.

[DaMa]

When I see McBride perform in games last night I wonder whether his game matches up well with the "new" U.S. game (i.e. donovan, dmb etc fast touches and timed runs). I am not against the idea of a target forward per se, but the knock against McBride was always his inability to play one touch quick passes. If we do use a target forward, considering most of our young players are more in the donovan mold than not, I think we need a target forward who can play well in that kind of game (a la Casey or EJ if he ever learns how to finish).

[Mason16]

I think this whole thread points out the fact that there isn't an obvious choice for a target forward with the USMNT. There's a lot of candidates. McBride is getting up in years and is beginning to show some wear and tear. Buddle would be great if he could stay healthy. Wolff appears to be on the downhill slide. They keep holding the door open for Johnson but he never seems to go through it. Ching is unproven at the international level. Twellman is more of a poacher than a target player. MLS doesn't seem to help with developing forwards since this is the position where teams are most likely to bring in foreign players. Because they've got limited international slots, most teams want to use them to get some players who will put balls in the net. I don't know the answer but I think Bruce has his work cut out for him.

Your definition of target forward seems much more liberal than mine. I really see Ching and Conor as the obvious alternatives, particularly now that we have seen them both in limited International action. No they don't have 30 caps worth of experience but at least they have given clear indications that they belong. And while they are not up to McBride's technical level, both seem to offer most of what you'd like to see in a target forward.

Buddle is more of a ball-on-the-ground finisher. Wolff a slashing speedy forward who runs onto balls played to him by the target forward. Twellman is more finisher as well than target. None of these guys are candidates.

Johnson was just starting to get regular minutes and was enjoying some success. At 20 or 21 years old, how could you say "they keep holding the door open"? Who is they? He was invited for his first MNT camp for this friendly but was injured.

[metroflip73]

I think Buddle qualifies, simply because he scores when he plays. I believe his strike rate is up there with anyone.

Sure his health is a concern and all that, but he's either injured or he just straight up scores goals. Doesn't need games to get back into the flow of scoring, when he's off the DL, BOOM! Goal. That's what it seems like to me from afar. I'm sure some Crew fans can elaborate.

[imasyko]

Maybe it's the 'target' forward formation itself that needs a revision? Mathis plays very well in the withdrawn forward role, slipping passes onto cutting attackers. Why not Wolff, or an alternative, playing a Michael Owen style (No, I am not comparing Wolff to Owen, only using MO to define my idea) striker? Mathis would then have Wolff (?), Donovan and Beasley to interact with up top?

[metroflip73]

Maybe it's the 'target' forward formation itself that needs a revision? Mathis plays very well in the withdrawn forward role, slipping passes onto cutting attackers. Why not Wolff, or an alternative, playing a Michael Owen style (No, I am not comparing Wolff to Owen, only using MO to define my idea) striker? Mathis would then have Wolff (?), Donovan and Beasley to interact with up top?

The service from midfield must be precise and near perfect for a short-short striker tandem to work. Plus the strikers in question should have the touch necessary to pull it off.

[Shaster]

Two things to mention:

1) Ching is only 70% back from his injury.
2) In 82nd minute, Ching received the ball in the left side outside of box with a Polish defender on his back. He made a left turn to dump the defender on the ground. Then he dribbled the ball into the box with two Polish defenders converging. He dribbled over one and the second one was enable to deflect the ball to Donovan who shot with a reflection. I never saw McBride doing things like that.

OK. To be a strong forward, you need to have the strength:

Brian Ching--6'1'', 195 pounds
Brian McBride--6'1'', 175 pounds (this is from US soccer, but it lists Boca as 170 pounds and I feel Boca is stronger than McBride. Fulham listed Boca 78kg and McBride 75kg)
Conor Casey--6'1'', 170 pounds (this is from US soccer but is unbelievable, I guess that he is in Ching's range. Connolly puts him as 6'3", 190 pounds)
Edson Buddle--
Eddie Johnson--6'0", 180 pounds
Nate Jaqua--6'3", 180 pounds
Denny Cooper--6'3", 195 pounds

Looks like we have three players Ching, Cooper and Casey are in heavy weight category.

[Elninho]

Two things to mention:

1) Ching is only 70% back from his injury.

2) In 82nd minute, Ching received the ball in the left side outside of box with a Polish defender on his back. He made a left turn to dump the defender on the ground. Then he dribbled the ball into the box with two Polish defenders converging. He dribbled over one and the second one was enable to deflect the ball to Donovan who shot with a reflection. I never saw McBride doing things like that.


OK. To be a strong forward, you need to have the strength:

Brian Ching--6'1'', 195 pounds
Brian McBride--6'1'', 175 pounds (this is from US soccer, but it lists Boca as 170 pounds and I feel Boca is stronger than McBride. Fulham listed Boca 78kg and McBride 75kg)
Conor Casey--6'1'', 170 pounds (this is from US soccer but is unbelievable, I guess that he is in Ching's range. Connolly puts him as 6'3", 190 pounds)
Edson Buddle--
Eddie Johnson--6'0", 180 pounds
Nate Jaqua--6'3", 180 pounds
Denny Cooper--6'3", 195 pounds

Looks like we have three players Ching, Cooper and Casey are in heavy weight category.

I find these numbers interesting because 75kg is only 165 pounds, which would make McBride distinctly lightweight for a target forward.

For the record, Edson Buddle is listed as 6'1", 170 pounds, but I don't quite believe this. He looks thinner than that, and doesn't even have McBride's physical strength.

[dcc134]

Ching was far more explosive and it seemed like everytime the ball came his was he knew where he was going with it before it arrived. I was very impressed with his performance.

However, Mcbride did have to play with that disaster of the central midfield.

That said, if Mcbride is still our #1 option at forward in 06, I think we'll be in trouble.

[onefineesq]

I find these numbers interesting because 75kg is only 165 pounds, which would make McBride distinctly lightweight for a target forward.

For the record, Edson Buddle is listed as 6'1", 170 pounds, but I don't quite believe this. He looks thinner than that, and doesn't even have McBride's physical strength.

I disagree with your final sentence. Buddle does not look thinner than 170 lbs when taking into account that he is 6'1" or 6'2", and he is not weaker than McBride. He is clearly stronger than McBride. I have seen Buddle turn with guys on his back and get off excellent shots on many many many occasions, which is something McBride never has the strength (or quickness) to do.