Everton: Wright; Pistone, Weir, Stubbs, Unsworth; S. Watson, Tie, Gemmill, Naysmith; McBride, Radzinski. Subs: Campbell, Pembridge, Gravesen, Yobo, Gerrard Wright and McBride both healthy enough to start, Gerrard back from suspension and KevCam able to make it to the bench.
Stubbs puts a pair of free headers over the bar. McBride has a good header saved by Sorenson ... all Everton so far.
Steve Watson with a diving header off the post! Everton coming up with some good crosses today but no goals so far.
Raise your hand if you saw this coming - Everton dominating possession throughout the match and bam! The other team scores. Kevin Phillips played in and he lays the ball off for Kevin Kilbane who finishes. 1-0 to Sunderland in the 34th minute.
Sunderland with another good chance just before the half - Phillips with a good turn and shot in the box that is turned behind by Wright. Halftime, 0-1.
Gravesen on before the kickoff. Not a flying start for Everton - Wright makes a hash of a corner and it falls to Phillips, but Wright makes up for it with a reflex save. Minutes later Phillips runs onto a Sorenson goal kick behind the Everton defense, but Pistone recovers quickly enough to tap it back to Wright.
Goal number two for McBride! McBride with a quasi-overhead kick that might have taken a deflection but it beats Sorenson all the same. 1-1.
Almost 2-1 ... Radzinski with an open chance for a volley 6 yards out, but he puts it off the outside of his boot and it goes wide. Now Unsworth has one cleared off the line! Maybe a hint of handball, but it's cleared.
McBride again! McHead completes a great move by Everton, beating Sorenson to the bottom corner. That's three goals in a game and a half! 2-1
Ugh ... almost gave one back. Sunderland clear a corner out to Julio Arca who almost puts Phillips in alone before yet another critical Pistone challenge.
77th minute - McBride off for Kevin Campbell. Good round of applause for BMac. Note to the commentators: Using the phrase "He would be shattered" is not a good bit of terminology to be using around Brian McBride.
Full time, 2-1 to Everton. McBride with goals in the 54th and 58th minutes. They never make it easy, do they?
It's excellent that someone can put it in the back of the net for the Toffees. If McBride keeps this up, Everton no doubt will make an offer to MLS. I wonder what Brian's price will be?
If -- IF -- McBride can keep this up, you're looking at least at $3.5 million, if not more (consider that MLS reportedly offered DMB up for $2 to Ajax right after WC '02). Keep in mind, he signed a new deal with MLS before going out on loan. Right now, though, I'd still say McBride's coming back to MLS after his England tour is through.
One thing that might hurt McBride's chances of landing at Everton is the Joe-Max Moore factor. No doubt, the Toffees want to be as sure as can be that Brian won't turn out to be Joe-Max redux, scoring 6 or so goals in his first 6 games and then taking 3 more years to score his next 6.
to be fair, Joe-Max was limited by injuries and lack of playing time. I can't remember him getting lots of games and not scoring. If you go over to the Everton pages on toffeeweb, Joe-Max is remembered very fondly. Besides, Moyes has no memories of JMM, and knows McBride very well. He has been trying to get him for 3 years now.
I don't know about that, simply because the transfer window closes in 2 weeks yeah? So then if McBride continues to impress, the Toffees will effectively have to wait until the middle of the MLS season to try and secure his services from MLS, which, as we know, is a no go. Therefore, it would be safe to assume if they want him, they gotta make their moves at this juncture, or wait until the end of the upcoming MLS season, which, if I know Moyes, he'd probably not be willing to endure if he can help it. As far as his price goes, I think it's up in the air really...come on Chelsea want 7m pounds for JFH yeah?, so that's what $11.2m I can't see Everton offering more than 1.75-2m pounds sterling for McBride...or $2.8-3.2m... besides I will say it now, at 30, I don't think MLS can reasonably ask for too much more than $2.5 million....
For some reason this has been stated all over the place this week, and I can't figure out why, because it's inaccurate. BMB turned 30 during the World Cup; he was born 6-19-72. Not that it's a huge difference mind you. In any case, your point is probably valid, and that's perfectly all right with him. I strongly suspect that two or three years in the EPL and then coming back to finish up with the Crew would be just fine with him. As for Toffees_rule: You sir are my new hero; a cogent, lucid and factually motivated post. That indeed would seem to be the most likely scenario.
Oh yeah, sorry I forgot to mention that we also have brazilian/german Rodrigo on the books who was out injured with torn ligaments...Ideally Moyes would use him as a left sided midfielder/attacker but he can also play in the centre forward spot as well... Rodrigo is on loan for the season at a hefty 2m pound + fee, with a further option to sign should he impress when he finally get's the chance to play... Drunken Ferguson is also on the road to recovery and so is our youngster Nick Chadwick (of no relation to Luke)...which effectively means we will have a glut of strikers... Ferguson Rooney Campbell Radzinski Rodrigo Chadwick McBride --(Loan only at this point) What affect this will have on a McBride approach remains to be seen
I'd be very surprised if a bid was made for Brian. If he was 23 it might be different. Not that we don't appreciate his services at such short notice. He is here purely to cover injuries and suspensions. I don't think we could justify another striker on the payroll when Campbell and Ferguson are paid 30k a week. However, I may well make a trip up to Columbus this summer to Brian in action (I live in Indianapolis) Any Crew fans willing to meet up? For a good Everton fan site check out: http://www.whenskiesaregrey.com Good match reports, opinions, nostalgia and a touch of scouse wit.
This page at the English Football Grounds site has 4 fan sites listed. http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/park/yfh45/everton.htm
yeah but he's actually training with the first team again...so I assume he must be a bit further along that road than he was last season