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Davies returns to Sochaux with future undetermined

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Photo by Brad Smith/ISIphotos.com

Charlie Davies' comeback in 2011 was one of the stories of the year in American soccer, as he returned to the playing field less than two years removed from a horrifying car accident that nearly took his life and did take the life of another passenger. As the calendar turns to 2012, it remains to be seen where his next stop will be as he looks to make the next step toward reclaiming his top form.

His loan with D.C. United yielded mixed results. While just stepping onto the field itself was an accomplishment in its own right, Davies managed to score 11 goals, including two in an emotional debut against the Columbus Crew. He was also at the center of a couple of diving controversies, and by the end of the season he had been relegated to mostly a reserve role.

After his season with D.C. United ended with him essentially out of favor, the club elected to pass on its option to buy his contract outright from FC Sochaux. The loan technically expires on Saturday, and the French club confirmed that Davies is returning to Sochaux to train and stay in shape while awaiting a decision on his future. He'll commence training with the club on New Year's Day.

Sochaux currently finds itself in the Ligue 1 relegation zone, but there has been no indication that Davies will be looked upon as an option for the club's lineup. A greater possibility seems to be a loan or transfer elsewhere in Europe, as various reports from both the United States and Europe speculate.

What do you think makes most sense for Davies' next move? Another loan to MLS? A transfer to another team overseas? How will you look back on his year with United?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. USMNT fans have a tendency to elevate players to instantaneous sainthood based on very little evidence.

    Holden was the greatest midfielder ever. He was great for Bolton but he can barely get on the field for the US and has never had a signature game for them when he was healthy.

    Davies had a run of about 10 games with the USMNT where he looked really dangerous.Part of the love for him was because the US hadn’t had a really dangerous looking forward since McBride so his success instantaneously became overblown and overhyped,our attacking saviour come to earth to make the USMNT whole. I remember one post about how leaving Charlie off the

    WC team would prove to be BB’s single biggest blunder, as if Charlie had saint like healing abilities. I trust that no one seriously thinks he should have been on the World Cup roster.

    If if he had not gotten hurt he might have been our version of Chicharito; it is also possible he might have settled in at a level a notch or two below that. We’ll never know. My guess is he would not have been as good as Chicharito.

    Based on the interviews he has given during his time in DC it does seem like his primary focus is the CD9 legend, 24/7. Selfish and self centered strikers are normal in the game but he takes it a bit beyond that.

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  2. Lack of production basically. Now, I’m not around the clubhouse so I don’t know what type of teammate CD is, but every interview he granted while in DC revealed an incredibly self-involved individual. Everything was about his goals and the team was seldom mentioned.

    I think some of the other posters nailed it. CD was not a proven commodity pre-crash. He had blazing speed, that was his difference maker. The crash took his speed, his skill set otherwise is very ordinary, particularly his dribbling and passing skills. He does not link well with other attacking players. Compare him to Josh Wolff, another player who lost his wheels to age. Wolff can pass, defend and score. CD only can really do the latter, and not often enough. CD will be one of those players where the “what-ifs?” will outnumber his actual on field accomplishments.

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  3. Exactly. The old Charlie Davies wasn’t half as good as people seem to remember. He had one good year at Hammarby, and he wasn’t tearing it up in France when he got hurt.

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  4. When I think about Charlie Davies and his current plight I vacillate between disappointment and anger. I am not trying to be smug about it…in fact I don’t like that I feel this way. However, the fact that he found himself in that situation in the wee-hours of the morning before a match which was not some silly friendly still boggles my mind. I understand that wee all put ourselves in bad situations at points in our lives. I just get pissed off when I think about what might have been.

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  5. was there any clarification on why he fell out of favor with DCU? If he doesn’t stay with sochaux i wonder if Houston would try to work another fake DP loan deal.

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  6. Wait wait wait i have only been commenting on here for about a year. I have always been high on gooch. I have always said jozy is our best striker and is a definite starter and i have never ever said diskerud is better than gil. Diskerud is overrated. Youre thinkin of someone else

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  7. Wow you honestly do not remeber ? Lets take a trip down memory lane. You thrashed the following players in past post. Adu, Gooch, Altidore, Davies, and you said that Diskerud was better than Gil and that Gil was not that good.

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  8. I’ve been struggling to recall Davies’ emergence pre-crash, and I know that he hammered in 19 or so goals at Hammarby, and had a breakout few weeks around the Gold Cup timeframe.

    I recall that at the time of the accident, his career was on the rise, and he appeared to have tremendous upside — *BUT* he was not yet an established multi-year top performer & difference-maker.

    How many such Eddie Johnsons have we seen flare up and fizzle out over the past 20 years?

    Before we start pining for The Old Charlie Daviesâ„¢, we might do well to remember that even the old Charlie Davies may not have been as good as The Old Charlie Daviesâ„¢.

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  9. I wondered about that lawsuit.

    It’s his business but it seems to me like another big distraction that could take away from what should be his only focus, to come back to the highest level he can.

    As someone who saw a lot of his games it was almost like he wasn’t that interested once he realised he wsn’t going to dominate the league.

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  10. Not yet. At least I did not see a lot of evidence of it this go around.

    It’s possible if he really gets back into great form and gets his mojo back the speed may return but who knows?

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  11. Charlie Davies still has some ability, but he’s not willing to recognize his actual level of play and cultivate it. He still believes he’s going to be an international superstar. That has fueled his recovery, and given him a career again, but unfortunately for DC, it gave us no reason to fight for him.

    There’s a big difference in tone between fans who worship his recovery and those who watched him every week for United. He was more interested in suing than scoring by the end of the season. I hope he gains some perspective.

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  12. Perhaps you haven’t heard of Chris Pontius and Andy Najar. The simple fact is, with a more focused, healthy, and consistent strike force, Najar and Pontius would have looked like rockstars.

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  13. Physically his body is probably close to healed up but (and this is clearly hard to judge) is his speed nearly close to what it used to be?

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  14. If BB wanted him there “as an emotional Talisman” he had two choices:

    Hamstring your squad and give him one of the 23 spots even though he can’t play. What does that say about your credibility when you talk about having the 23 best players?

    Just have him come along as a mascot and cheer leader, a psuedo assistant coach.

    If CD9 was such an inspirational figure to the guys don’t you think they would have pushed for one of these actions? In previous cases where I have heard of these things it’s typically the players who really push for it.

    To the best of my knowledge nothing like this ever came up so I guess the guys weren’t as inspired by him as you were.

    Personally I think the CD circus would have just been a huge distraction and I doubt Charlie himself would have wanted it.

    And given how shattered the guys who were on the bubble and didn’t make it were,even now ( see Ching, Brian) I doubt any of the 23 need any inspiration.

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  15. i agree that this year was very good for him on the field. you cannot rush a comeback of this magnitude. the fact that he was able to get significant first team minutes at all is a great thing for his recovery.

    hopefully humility will motivate him. the benching and criticism could help him psychologically to focus on soccer and not on other distractions.

    whether or not he gets all the way back is still a ways away and he is still at the beginning of the path…

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  16. There were/are/and will continue to be players chosen to squads for reasons other than on field impact.

    Chuck D could have been one of those inspirational players reminding the team of Hard work/struggling to overcome the odds and so on.

    If I were the coach, he would have been on the squad as an emotional Talisman.

    BB decided he did not want him. That’s his prerogative.

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  17. What games were you watching ? Davies was a beast Olsen just didn’t like him and he also got called for diving. Every post I see of yours you are always under rating the player the story is about and you thrash them. I will make sure to skip over all of your post next time I read comments. -____-

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  18. His game is and always was based on speed. He’s a solid player, but pace was the one world class level aspect of his game he had going for him and when he lost that, he didn’t really have other skill sets to compensate. It has been two years so he’s really at a point now where if it hasn’t come back, it’s going to be tough to see it happening. Feel awful for him but its a lesson in making good decisions on and off the pitch for youngsters out there.

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  19. He will be back with Sochaux

    4 Goals
    1 Assist

    People will be clamoring for his inclusion for the Olympics

    Book IT!

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  20. Davies was inconsistent. He started out bright (in fact his technique and touch looked better)but finished on a down note. Then again the whole team was on a massive downer towards the end and I doubt that helped.

    It’s been two years and a few months since the accident. His body is probably more or less healed but I doubt his confidence has caught up to that yet. That shows in the tentativeness and the inconsistency.

    People go on about his mental toughness but he is human. The strain of trying to be Superman seems to be wearing and it has clearly shown in his play.

    Give him another year, turn down the spotlight,dial back the expectations, forget about the USMNT and maybe he can come back.

    Otherwise he’s just going to blow a gasket.

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  21. Their late season slide coincided with pontius’s injury. Both najar and pontius were more likely to score even brettschneider looked more threatining then him

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  22. I don’t see why Sochaux would send him on another loan when they are in need of strikers and some offensive fire power. Yes Davies hit a massive slump towards the end of the season at D.C., but he still can be a super sub for Sochax while regaing his form and staying fit. He still has time to become the player people thought he could become. There were stretches where you could see his speed returning. Right now it’s all mental with Davies, and once the mental part gets situated; I have feeling he can return to the player he was before the accident.

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  23. He was much better for United than he was given credit for. Other than DeRo, he was about the only player on the squad who was ever a threat to score, and their late-season slide pretty neatly co-incided with his relegation to the bench. Maybe his personality/attitude rubbed Ben Olsen the wrong way, but it’s hard to complain about what he did on the field.

    I don’t know much about Sochaux or if they can use him, but from what I saw from him in D.C., he could well be on his way back to where he was pre-crash – and he was damn good then.

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  24. I love Chuck but I don’t see him sticking with Sochaux. Kind of sucks that his year in MLS didn’t got better (though it was far from a failure). I assumed Sochaux let him go on loan to DC b/c they had better options. Now after a year where he wasn’t successful enough for DC to want buy him he is going back to a team in a more competitive league.

    Hopefully he gets playing time.

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