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What’s next for Charlie Davies?

Charlie Davies 3 (ISIphotos.com)

Photo by ISIphotos.com

As the list went up on the TV screen this afternoon, Charlie Davies' absence was immediately noticeable, and for many U.S. fans, devastating.

Charlie Davies didn't make the U.S. national team's preliminary World Cup roster, unable to recover from his injuries in time to be selected. It's a crushing blow for Davies, who had been targeting the World Cup ever since he first climbed his mangled body out of a hospital bed for the first time six months ago.

As tough as it is to accept right now, the reality is that the end of his 2010 World Cup dream is the new beginning of his journey to rebuild a career that showed so much promise just eight months ago. He still hasn't recovered fully from all his injuries, but he will now have four more months to rehab and rest and take a break from the emotional roller coaster he has been on for the past seven months.

There is plenty for Davies to look forward to, from the Ligue 1 season with Sochaux in the fall, to the 2011 Gold Cup, to World Cup qualifying in 2012 and 2013, to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. He is still just 23 and if we learned anything about Davies over the course of the past five months it's that he will give his all to accomplish his goals.

Davies didn't reach the goal of the 2010 World Cup, but you have to like his chances of accomplishing the next set of goals he sets for himself.

Comments

  1. Davies should have been selected, how else is Coach Bradley going to know if he’s ready to play or not?

    What better way is there to see if Davies is fit enough to play in the WC than practising with the other 29 players in the 30 man roster.

    7 players from this 30 man roster will be staying home…if he’s not good to go, then he stays home…simple, right!

    Davies is so valuable to this team that I think you have to save a slot for him.

    We need a proven goal scorer at the international level and he’s it.

    If there is an injury in training camp, could he be called in, or is it too late????

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  2. “Sometimes he makes decisions that not everyone likes, and this happens to be one of them. But we’ll still watch the World Cup and we’ll still root for the USA.” – Kofi Davies (Charlie’s dad) from the San Diego paper.

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  3. “challenge for a spot” – Please. Davies is in a class by himself on the frontline for the US. He was absolutely guaranteed a spot on the roster barring catastrophic injury….oh wait, that’s what happened.

    Worst 2 days in US soccer History – October 13,14

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  4. and we all know, after all, that providing an inspirational catalyst for the team makes absolutely no sense. USMNT is loaded with talent and shoe-in for the cup title this summer…. they don’t need no stinkin’ inspiration. Yup, that’s the ticket.

    If they’re smart, they give him a free ride with the team, put him in a coaches/trainers uniform, and let him be part of the whole deal (if he wants).

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  5. Not including Davies could be a blessing in disguise… Just think how much harder Altidore is going to play now, hes going to give everything he has and dedicate his play to his friend Charlie!!! LETS GO USA!!!

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  6. I haven’t read the posts so apologies if I am repeating something. I feel for Charlie, for his ordeal and missing out the World Cup. And we will miss his quality up front. We have little depth up there. But this accidental death and his injuries could have been avoided with a little more foresight. Wasn’t he out past curfew for the US National team? Not a good decision. And wasn’t he riding in a car with someone who had been drinking? Another poor decision. Ultimately, he has only himself to blame.

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  7. Exactly, people are acting as if Charlie has been fit since march and scoring goals for Sochaux he simply is not healthy and Bob wants all possibly world cup options to be able to at least play…… and Kljestan is not def going to SA so why the fuss…. he is a Pesky Body that will be good to practice against

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  8. The hate comes from immature punks with their own inadequecy issues. For some reason it makes losers feel good to berate others. Anyone calling a kid “trash” and saying they “hate” a soccer player is just pathetic and takes away from any valid point they might have.

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  9. Wow are you wrong. Charlie was an unknown commodity, just like Jose Francisco Torres. He is a talent. They want to play him, yet they dont know how to use him. It just takes time to incorporate him on the team.

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  10. Exactly, BB very likely may have put Davies on the 30-man IF he could participate in camp. But, when he wasn’t medically cleared, BB had to either leave him off, or put him in without allowing any camp time for him to mesh with the rest of the team … and getting everyone on the same page will be a big focus of the camp. Of course if someone gets hurt between June 1 and June 12, he may be in the final 23, anyway.

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  11. oh and its really too bad McBride hasn’t been asked to come out of retirement. I know he hasn’t been tearing it up in MLS but I’d rather have him coming off the bench late in a game than Edson Buddle or Eddie Johnson. McBride is great on set pieces. Oh well. I wasn’t confident before the Confederations Cup so I need to just sit back and put my faith in Bob! He will lead us to the 2nd round!

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  12. Ives–why does Sochaux have absolute power when clearing Davies for the World Cup? Of course they will say he’s not fit–its in their interests to let him have a few months off so he is fit for next season without any setbacks. But clubs cannot stop fit players from being called up, so why can’t an independent determination be made about Davies fitness? If he’s not able to perform I can’t blame Bob for not calling him up, but if Sochaux are just blocking the call up because they want him to rehab more when he could technically play now, that sucks.

    The moral of this story is by 2014 I hope we have more than 2 good forwards! The drop off in talent from Altidore and Davies to the rest of the forwards on the 30 man roster is unbelievable.

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