Eric Wynalda or Brian McBride? Which was the best player for the NT? Who had the better club career

McBride hands down was a better NT player.

 

I gotta report this madness as not N&A

 

Repped... assuming you have a great sense of humor.

 

@LouisianaViking07/09 completely random and repetitive questioning is a hallmark of this board.

 

Waldo for NT, McBride for club.

For NT, both had 0.32 goals per game:
--Waldo 34 in 106 apps
--McBride 30 in 95 apps

But Waldo had the NT edge through assists (16 vs 10).

In club careers, pretty much all you need to know is that Fulham FC named a bar after the guy. The stats bear it out as well:
--Wynalda had a respectable 64 goals in 220 apps, 23 of those goals for European clubs
--McBride had an impressive haul of 137 goals over 413 apps, 40 goals for European clubs

Hat tip to Wynalda's club career, however. He came back from Europe and took a pay cut at the peak of his club career to get MLS off the ground as a marquee player for a very bad San Jose Clash.

 

Good summary. Even though stats were comparable, I would agree with Eric for NT and McBride for club. Plus, Eric was part of the first group of players who established the modern area of USMNT.

While I gave McBride the club, it's hard to compare fully as hardly no one saw Eric play in Germany.

I'm just fortunate to see both of them play. Both made huge contributions to the sport in the US and were a pleasure to watch and cheer for...

 

anyone saying anything here is "clearly" in one or the others favor doesnt know what theyre talking about.

mcbride has better mls numbers, which makes sense considering there wasnt an mls for the first decade of wynaldas career.

wynaldas time abroad was at the beginning of his career, mcbrides at the end. the numbers are very similar. any "prem is better" talk is nullified by wynalda being one of the first americans abroad at a high level (and lets not overstate fulhams actual level here).

internationally they were both huge in the high points of their "generations". yes, mcbrides was the highest- building on what wynaldas had grown the team to. so before you say "wynalda never led us to a quarterfinal", ask if mcbride could have had the copa, the advancing out of group stages with the team around wynalda.

the difference is preference, and thats it.

 

My take is also that Brian McBride has a more impressive club career, but Eric Wynalda a slightly better international career. To me, Wynalda was more of an x-factor and game changer on the national team. He was better at creating goals, and was better with the ball at his feet. I really liked watching him play.

McBride had great instincts in the box and was pretty clinical at finishing off chances with his head or feet.

Wynalda's career was short a bit prematurely due to injuries. By the 1998 World Cup, I recall him not quite being the player he was between 1990-1997. He was at his peak in '95 and was awesome at the Copa America that year, and he scored like 9 goals in 13 games for the US in 1996. He only played for the US 5 more times after the '98 World Cup, despite only being 29 at that tournament.

Theoretically, a healthy, fit Wynalda could have still been a player for the US in 2002 (he was 33), but he barely played after 1998.

McBride's career lasted longer and he had more continuity at the club level. People often talk about McBride having a higher peak at the club level (scored 9 goals in back to back seasons for Fulham in 2005/06 and 2006/07), but Wynalda actually banged in 9 goals in 29 matches for FC Saarbrucken in the 1.Bundesliga back in 1992/93. He hit 12 goals in the 2.Bundesliga the next year.

 

Wynalda got his ass handed to him by Jim Rome. I'll never forgive him for it.

 

WAIT...……....…...WHAT?

And we had a chance to have this guy as our US Soccer President?

oh man.

it just gets worse and worse.

 

I will always take McBride!

Wynalda loses points with me for getting a red card at our first World Cup in 40 years...

 

Wynalda is probably the best forward in USMNT history. I'm not counting Dempsey nor Landon Donovan, as they were more attacking midfielders. Brian had a good career, but McBride and JMM were a level down, IMO.

 

My desire to say Wynalda is tempered by the fact that his post-playing career reveals him to be an insufferable, miserable dingus.

But its still probably him for both club and country.

 

Wynalda was a better scorer and was able to create for himself with the ball at his feet in ways McBride never could but McBride was a better team player and was able to bring his teammates into the game with his hold up play and passing. McBride clearly better in the air. Two extremely different forwards.

 

The forward who had the most potential of all, Clint Mathis, never reached that potential. I don' think he was ever the same after tearing his ACL in 2001. The junk food and beer didn't help much either.

 

Wynalda sprained a ligament in his left knee April 1998, just before the World Cup. He was out April and May, and came back just in time for the World Cup. No doubt this hurt him badly. He then tore his left ACL in March 1999, and was never the same.

 

Great interview with Wynalda.

Man I love that guy.
I think he could fix a lot of our center forward problems long term.

 

McBride at both levels.

Goals and assists don't tell the whole story. McBride played both ends more than Wynalda. Better in the air. More of a true CF/#9. Brought others into the game more. Better hold up play.

Wynalda pacier, better shot from distance, more apt to beat someone 1v1.

 

You said what I was thinking. Thanks! The US, it seemed to me, was a better team with McBride.

Were they ever on the field at the same time?

 

Goals/cap:

Wynalda 0.32
McBride 0.32

Both scored in very important events, such as the World Cup.
Their goal scoring records for the USMNT are actually pretty similar.

I mean, Wynalda scored against the likes of Argentina and Chile in the 1995 Copa America. We shouldn't sell Wynalda short in that regard. He scored against some big nations. He scored a whole boatload of important WCQing and Gold Cup goals. Particularly WCQing goals in the 1998 cycle. The goal in the 94 WC against Switzerland was a thing of beauty.

For the USMNT its very tight......................but McBride takes it due to club performance.

By the way, Jozy Altidore has a higher goals/cap rate than both of them. As do Donovan, Dempsey, and Pulisic.

 

Scanning past lineups now, and I'm seeing that one often came on as a sub for the other, but I did find a pair of friendlies against China in 1997 where they both started together in each game.

It also looks like they were both on the field for the last 30 minutes or so in our final group stage match against Yugoslavia in the 1998 World Cup.

 

Too bad Waldo's career ended prematurely, it would have been interesting to see him and McBride together more often.

 

I played against Wynalda as a youth... the guy was absolute filth- in all the good ways. One of, if not the most skillful forward I think the US has ever had, who also scored a lot of goals.

for me- Wyno is a "better" player than McBride at a purely skill level.

But if I'm taking one of them to try to win games... I think I give the edge to McBride, who would break his face to help his team and teammates advance and was a better tactical player, IMO.

 

I think Wynalda is underappreciated and undervalued by the next generation of fans.

When he retired, he was our all-time leading scorer of course.
And there was quite a gap between he and 2nd place at the time.

Only 5 players have more ASSISTS in US soccer history than Wynalda too.

Assists per game:

Wynalda: 0.15
Reyna: 0.17

Just as a statistic without context.................