By FRANCO PANIZO
Charlie Davies has received his punishment.
Davies has been fined $1,040 and his license has been suspended for his involvement in a speeding incident with Sochaux teammate Jacques Faty. Davies was with Faty on Oct. 3 when the two were pulled over for speeding at 125mph. The U.S. national team striker was in the driver's seat of the car when police stopped them and Faty was in the passenger seat.
Davies and Faty have both publicly admitted they switched seats in order to avoid serious punishment to Faty, who incorrectly believed his license was suspended, but a French police official said that neither player has officially contradicted the initial report. The official also said he was not aware of any further investigation being opened.
Here are more stories from Monday:
Wondolowski wins MLS POW
San Jose Earthquakes striker Chris Wondolowski has been named the MLS Player of the Week for his two-goal performance in the Earthquakes' 2-0 victory against DC United. Wondolowski helped the Earthquakes reach the MLS playoffs for the first time since 2008 with a goal in each half, including a volley that was nominated for Goal of the Week.
Wondolowski also won the award two weeks ago.
Kaka rumored away from Real Madrid
Kaka's future with Real Madrid appears to be in doubt as reports around Italy are linking the Brazilian international with a return to Serie A. Both AC Milan and Inter Milan are rumored to be interested in acquiring Kaka, and they join a list of teams that includes Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City.
Cherundolo returns to Europe
Carlos Bocanegra isn't the only member of the U.S. national team returning to Europe prior to Tuesday's friendly against Colombia.
Steve Cherundolo, who played 90 minutes in the U.S. team's 2-2 draw against Poland on Saturday, headed back to his club, Hannover 96, on Monday.
Cherundolo and Bocanegra, who returned to St. Etienne on Sunday, have been replaced by FC Dallas players Heath Pearce and Brek Shea.
Sagna out longer than expected
Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna is set to miss more games than initially expected as he is still recovering from a knock picked up in an Oct. 3 match against Chelsea. The French international, who is currently undergoing rehabilitation, believes he needs three more weeks to recover, meaning he will miss at least two of Arsenal's upcoming games.
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What do you think of Davies' fine? Agree that Wondolowski was MLS POW? Should Kaka return to Italy? Who do you hope to see at right back against Colombia, Lichaj or Spector? Think Sagna being out greatly affects Arsenal?
Share your thoughts below.
And wait for it…wait for it…what was Altidore?…. an MLS striker!!, hooray for your thought process.
What is Donovan? …wait for it…. an MLS striker/mid of sorts…hooray your thought process.
Except that he’s a right back.
No, we aren’t all idiots like Charlie has been.
I’m as big a Davies fan as any, but I can’t defend his behavior here.
Straighten the hell up Charlie.
That depends on how you look at it.
He played 18 minor league games for the Milwaukee Rampage.
Then he played 18 games for Wolfsburg in the German 2nd division. Then he went to Columbus and played 161 games for them; during his tenure there he spent 9 games on loan with Preston North End(2000) and then 8 games on loan with Everton(2003). He finally moved to Fulham in 2004 and played 153 games for them.
If you don’t count the Rampage(minor league) and the Chicago Fire ( presumably he was already in semi-retirement and had learned his trade) then he played 188 senior games in Europe and 161 games for Columbus.
From what I saw of McBride, his best games were for the USMNT, Everton and Fulham but I admittedly did not see a lot of Crew games.
He got better s time went on at Fulham so you have to think his game developed a lot during his time there.
St. Etienne brought in Boca and few other veteran defenders specifically to shore up their defense and the initial results are very promising.
oops Davies’
I find it hard to believe Davie’s story about switching seats. I think he was driving the whole time and the seat switching excuse is only damage control. One of these days he will grow up, unfortunately like another promising striker (Clint Mathis) I think it won’t be until he is on the downside of his career.
How old are you?
On Davies, the real question I have is, whose car is it?
If its his friend’s it is just further evidence to believe the story, no real reason not to in my opinion.
Secondly, lying down relaxin in a very nice car, totally easy not to know the speed.
3rd, I blame the driver for speeding with davies in the car, kind of disrespectful (other than that, I don’t care. I drive over 100mph since i learned how, sometimes reaching speeds like that and am always in complete control of the vehicle, never cut people off, and only go that fast when no one else is around anyway….so to me, speeding is not a crime that makes me lose my fandom for a player, or respect for a politician, or a businessman…apparently on SBI, peeps drive slow),
4th, the driver also gets the blame for the lame-o idea and request of a teammate.
5th, charlie did the right thing in doing what he had to do to prevent a teammate going to jail for speeding. punishment does not fit potential crime, and that is what a teammate should do, even though it was the driver’s fault to be in such a position.
This is my completely honest take, I know most of you completely disagree. C’est la vie
VROOM VROOM!
HAHAHA Let’s here the whinny people on the other Davies board who were all saying, Davies career was over!lol First Adu’s career is over, now apperantly Chuck’s career is over too!haha Some folks on this board are mad funny. 🙂
Let’s hope Edu doesn’t throw a beer bottle in scotland, because God forbid, is career would be over too.
VIVA ADU & CHUCK D! 🙂
Or, just write a blog, and not tell anyone about it (you never, after all, know when someone might bust into the comment section with their intolerably “irrationale” and “unbareable” ideas).
The sound you hear is Charlie Davies career crashing to the ground.
There’s nowhere else to go but up.
Thank you! I’m tired of all thin call bruan and wondolo up!!!! None of them guys has proven them self in other levels then mls and I’m sorry but mls doesn’t have lots of international defeners!!!!!
Hmmm…if you dislike diverging opinions and the occasional irrational comment, perhaps a soccer forum is not for you. I would suggest starting a Word document and writing short pieces on various topics. Once this is completed, then you can reread the comments and take pleasure in the concordance between the posts and your own beliefs.
St. Etienne has been terrible in recent years. This has been an odd year in Ligue 1 — OM, Lyon and Bourdeaux are usually dominant.
Normally both Rennes and St. Etienne are mid-table teams.
Do you guys know how to read? Charlie is just paying a fine. He’s not going to jail.
Yeah it was stupid. Yes, Charlie has shown that once again he is immature (breaking curfew, getting in a car with someone who had been drinking, bashing his employers, and now lying to the police). But at least he wasn’t the one driving 125 mph.
And I don’t think Bob is in the position to say “Hey sorry Charlie, we’re not in need of your services”, if come January Charlie starts getting action with Sochaux’s first team and starts playing well, because right now our strikers our Jozy and…yeah…no one.
I don’t know that Kaka does not fit in with Real Madrid. The problem is that he has been injured most of the time, even when he has played. He seems to be the type that needs to feel happy in order to play well, kind of immature in that way.
He also strikes me as the type that could not handle the pressure of playing at Real Madrid. Yeah, he played for AC Milan but it just isn’t the same. His heart is still in Milan — maybe he goes back there, I don’t know.
Ozil is going to be an institution at Real and Canales is not far behind. Kaka is expendable.
Real is going to lose millions on him so I hope they sold a lot of jerseys.
At this point it seems like suspending Davies’ license is the last thing anybody would want to do, since most of his bad decisions involve whose car he gets into in the first place. Let’s hope he doesn’t hitch any more rides with Faty!
ac milan trying to get back kaka is playing a big role on why ronaldihno has set his gaze on LA. Dihno just doesnt fit in the system anymore after ac milan required robinho.
So, does this mean that no more legal action will be taken against Davies and Faty for the incident? If so, Davies is lucky.
Hmmm…haven’t most of our recent international goal scorers played, or still play in the case of Donovan, in the MLS? I’m pretty sure the greatest American striker, Brian McGod, learned his trade and played the majority of his career in America.
good riddance
“Decent” French clubs? His old club (Rennes) is in first place, and St. Etienne is currently in second.
let’s see how he 1) acts off the field from here (six months in Jail doesn’t do much for “match fitness”
2) plays when he actually gets a chance- the dude still needs to show that he has recovered to not only reserve level, but starting level play
Yeah, Sierra Mist came out my nose and all over my keyboard!
No offense but MLS strikers aren’t up to the international level. They can score against maybe Guatemala or Grenada but we need guys who can get solid chances to score against Turkey or Poland ala Altidore
Great point. But considering how they are doing well at the moment and strikers are scoring all should be okay. Remember Davies had a brace in only his 2nd game coming off the bench. He would have scored more in later games but no proper service but he did lead to a few PK’s and FK’s.
2 goals in 8 matches. He is the only guy capable of having us play a 4-4-2. don’t give up on him. sure he’s an idiot at times but aren’t we all. He scored a great goal at Azteca and showed us the “stanky leg”.
I can’t even begin to tell you how hard I laughed when I read this.
Poor Kaka. He came with Ronaldo and was a flop. shame
Boca and Cherundolo. 2 underrated players and yet they have had among the best careers for defenders in Europe. Boca has spent 7 years in Europe, half for Fulham and other half for 2 decent clubs in France.
Cherundolo has played for a decent Bundesliga side for nearly 12 years. come on guys. that deserves a prize.
So many of you make SBI unbearable to read. Now I only read the comments here once in a while, when I can bare it. Instead, I go to bigsoccer for more rationale and tolerable discussions. haha. So ironic.
Sagna is 1 of the best leftbacks in the world. Terrific player yet underrated.
CD is the ultimate team mate….taking the fall for a team mate in trouble.
Or….he should be kept out until he proves that he can play at an international level again. Just a thought.
The Earthquakes made the playoffs in 2008??? Pretty sure the last time the Quakes were in the playoffs was 2005.
that’s what i’m saying. some of the greatest athletes in their sport are idiots, but being a character is part of what makes them likable! As long as he isn’t put in charge of driving the team bus I think everything’s going to be ok.
Too bad for Wondo he didnt do this 5 months ago…..good for him though.
So Davies, in a span of 12 months has snuck out to break curfew with dire consequences and now lied to the police, with potential jail time looming- how much longer you think Sochaux will give him before booting him out?
Charlie should kissing up to his manager, GM, owner, etc… for a while- because he certainly hasn’t been near the field for a year and only making bad headlines off of it.
As for USMNT, until he gets significant first-team minutes and proves himself on the field, talk of his call-up should be tabled.
Well said. If it weren’t for Freddy and Pele, I might never have become a once-a-month Sierra Mist drinker for life.
It’s hard to acknowledge that one of your favorite players may be a dumb-a. Oh well, he’s a likable dumb-a.
As much trouble as the back line was against Poland–and as much as I love Pearce on my MLS team–this could be a wild ride with Boca and Dolo out. Maybe we’ll see Shea at LB…I think FCD did it last year.
Here’s a guy who almost ended his career because of a poor decision less than 2 years ago. He obviously hasn’t learned his lesson yet.
He should be kept out of the US MNT lineup until he gets his act straight, otherwise he’s just a liability.
obviously davies is a little immature we should probably start playing freddy adu and forget about davies. If kaka is leaving madrid then they should replace him with freddy as well, this would be the perfect role for him. A team built around his excellent ball skills and play making abilities. And please everyone knows that adu would win the mls player of the week every week if he were in the mls. So this article is completely irrelevant considering it doesn’t have anything to do with adu.
haha Wondo. can we just call him Magic Wondo from now on?