Top Stories

Davis chooses to retire after difficulty moving into new role at Sporting KC

Photo by Gary Rohman/MLS/USA TODAY Sports
Photo by Gary Rohman/MLS/USA TODAY Sports

In 10 years with the Houston Dynamo, Brad Davis was nothing if not reliable.

Davis made at least 25 appearances in nine of those years, and made less than 25 starts only one of those 10 seasons. All along, when Davis knew he wouldn’t be able to make that kind of impact, he would know it was time to call it quits.

On the morning of Sporting KC’s — where he was traded from Houston over the offseason — last regular season game, a 2-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes, Davis announced his retirement from soccer after 15 years.

“This year it really started to settle in as I’ve had a few more injuries that I’ve been battling and been nagging with,” Davis said to reporters at halftime during Sporting KC’s 2-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes. “When I came here I knew that was going to be part of the deal that I didn’t know if I was going to be a regular starter I was maybe battling for minutes and things like that.”

“I know at one time what I was capable of doing. I don’t feel like I’m doing it right now, and I always told myself that was going to be the time that I stepped away. I wasn’t going to try and hang on by any means.”

Davis, who has still made 24 appearances — 14 of them starts — this season, started to feel his role in the Sporting KC squad waning and realized the time had come.

“For the competitor in me it was a lot more challenging than honestly I thought it was going to be,” Davis said. “So mentally it really started to wear on me.”

Davis added that retiring will allow him to spend more time with his family.

Davis said he will turn away from soccer for his next step in life. The Kansas City Star reported Davis will work at a venture capital firm in the Kansas City area. On Sunday, however, he said he will continue to be involved in soccer in some way since his brother, who lives in Kansas City, is the director for a youth club.

When Davis stood on the field to be honored by the fans in attendance at Children’s Mercy Park, an important person in Davis’s career was also present: Dominic Kinnear. Kinnear was Davis’s coach during those 10 years in Houston. Davis said a phone call with Kinnear on Saturday nearly made him second-guess his decision.

“He legitimately was like ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this,'” Davis said. “He was like, ‘Watching you this year you looked really good, you looked really reinvigorated, you statistically could have had one of your best years.’ I definitely felt the same way at certain points. It was definitely a tough conversation.”

Those points must have been his curler to open scoring against the Los Angeles Galaxy in a 1-1 draw. Davis also scored the winner in a 1-0 win over Toronto FC earlier in the season.

When asked whether he will go out a Houston Dynamo player, Davis said the possibility was open, but not yet decided.

“It’s a possibility but I don’t really want to elaborate on that right now just as far as I ask for the respect of me being a part of the Sporting organization right now and wanting to finish the job out. So I’m not going to say yes or no on that.”

Comments

  1. I’d agree and add Wondo to that list. Yeah I know he scored 12 goals this year and he just scored against world soccer power Cuba – but he blows.

    Reply
  2. ” I wasn’t going to try and hang on by any means.” There are a number of players who should take heed of this statement. There are too many Mediocre to poor players in MLS who are hanging on tooth and nail.

    Gordon, Casey, Scott, Saborio, Clark, Gerrard, Larentowicz, Magee, etc….

    Reply
    • Of the list you just mentioned, a lot of those players have found starters roles or major contributors within their club.

      Anyone lingering players is both an indictment on the MLS quality, and likely the lack of pay these players received throughout their career. I don’t blame them for milking every pay check they can – especially when DP players are choosing when/if/where they’ll play and seemingly having more power than the manager or GM.

      Reply

Leave a Comment