Just What The Doctor Ordered?

Timing is everything. Fire forward Brian McBride has elected to have shoulder surgery to repair a chronic injury, taking him out of the Chicago lineup for 4-6 weeks. That he waited until (a) the Fire made it to the finals of SuperLiga and (b) the All-Star break seems pretty prudent, assuming waiting until the end of the season was not an option.

As it stands, Chicago sits alone in first place in the Eastern Conference, and if his recovery is somewhere on the shorter end of the scale, McBride would be back in time to face that English guy when the L.A. Galaxy visit on August 19th. Best case scenario is probably that McBride misses four league matches and the SuperLiga final, and while I'd rather have him than not in three of those matches (at Seattle, at Houston, and said SuperLiga match), this is a good chance for other guys to step up. Without the reserve league, injuries are one of few ways for guys deeper down the roster to get minutes, so there's a definite crisis-equals-opportunity thing going on here. Just ask Baggio Husidic and Daniel Woolard, who wouldn't be getting any minutes if it weren't for the Gold Cup.

Patrick Nyarko is the obvious forward to step into that void, but keep in mind that Calen Carr is finally back from injury, and don't be surprised if that -- along with the All-Star break -- is something McBride considered here. And as one of the veteran leaders on this squad, I also wouldn't be surprised if he told the guys that he's leaving them in first place, and expects them to still be there when he gets back.

UPDATE: Goff is reporting McBride may actually be done for the season, so all the strategic timing speculation is completely out the window.