McBride Is Giving a Bloody Good Effort

"It takes a special kind of player to deal with that," Arena said. "There wasn't a second in that half that we had to get Brian's attention and ask him to do more and understand what had to be done."

Besides the elbowing incident, McBride was also engaged in a controversial sequence in the 65th minute when DaMarcus Beasley appeared to give the United States a 2-1 lead.

McBride had made a near-post run in hopes of receiving the ball deep in the box. Instead, the ball went to Beasley on the left and, before McBride could get back onside, the ball was heading toward him. McBride lifted his foot and turned in time to watch the shot skip into the far side of the net.

He knew right away, though, that he not only had remained offside, but he had obstructed goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon's view.

McBride's principal role has always been to serve as a target man on the front line and score goals. He began his international career 13 years ago and scored the first of his 30 goals three years later against Guatemala at RFK Stadium.

With four more goals, he will equal the U.S. career record held by Eric Wynalda, and with a goal in this tournament, he will become the only American to score in three consecutive World Cups (he had one in 1998 and two in 2002).

Reflecting on his World Cup experiences, McBride said: "I've hopefully grown as a player. My first World Cup start was probably 90 percent adrenaline and 10 percent thought. . . . The adrenaline is still there -- I still get the chills all the time during the national anthem and butterflies -- but now, when things aren't going well, I try to figure out where I need to put myself to help the team."

McBride scored in the U.S. team's final tuneup this year, a 1-0 victory over Latvia, but through two World Cup games, he -- as well as his teammates -- have been silent.

In the opener against the Czech Republic, McBride didn't receive much service from the midfield and, when he did get the ball, he wasn't in position to do much. Against Italy, with the Americans in a defensive posture most of the second half, McBride's role changed. Still, he squandered a 63rd-minute opportunity by missing badly to the short side.

The goals will come against Ghana, he believes.

On Monday, "the first goal Ukraine scored [against Saudi Arabia] was off a knee and we were sitting there saying, 'I'll take one of those,' " McBride joked. "It doesn't matter how it comes."