Photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIphotos.com
By THOMAS FLOYD
WASHINGTON – With each passing game, Charlie Davies makes it harder and harder for D.C. United coach Ben Olsen to keep him on the bench.
Davies' remarkable comeback story saw another notable chapter written Saturday, as the D.C. striker earned and converted a 90th-minute penalty kick to help his side steal a 1-1 draw against the Los Angeles Galaxy at RFK Stadium.
Davies collected a pass inside the penalty area from fellow substitute Branko Boskovic and took on Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez. After doing a step-over and touching the ball toward the end line, Davies tried to push past Gonzalez and tumbled to the turf after some mild contact with the centerback's forearm.
Referee Abiodun Okulaja pointed to the spot, and Davies calmly placed his penalty kick down the middle as goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts dived to his right, knotting the score for United (1-2-1) and giving himself a league-leading four goals (three PKs) on the young MLS season.
"I knew I was going down the middle the whole time," Davies said. "Ricketts is a big guy. I know he's pretty quick and he's going to get to a corner. I knew down the middle, he's going to be vulnerable, and it worked out."
The questionable call split opinions between the two locker rooms, as one would expect, and Galaxy midfielder Jovan Kirovski was ejected at the final whistle as he continued to share words with Okulaja.
"Every time I'm one on one, I'm going to go at you," Davies said. "I was able to take a good step-over and get by Omar, but he put his arm up and knocked me off balance. That's a penalty."
Said Galaxy coach Bruce Arena: "Well, the officiating in this league is what it is. Unfortunately, we're all conditioned to it now anyway and accept it."
One thing is for certain: Davies, who missed a league match last weekend and a U.S. Open Cup tilt Wednesday with a groin injury, isn't going to retain his role as a supersub much longer.
The 24-year-old has entered at halftime or shortly thereafter and scored in each of his three appearances for United this season, his first top-flight matches since suffering major injuries in an October 2009 car accident. At this point, his emergence in the starting 11 seems eminent.
"I know he's chomping at the bit to get the start," Olsen said. "It's great. I wouldn't be happy either if I wasn't starting. Give him credit — he came in and he gave us a big play. And that's what he has been doing for us off the bench."
Davies' tally came with United down a man, as midfielder Santino Quaranta saw his second yellow card for a challenge on Gonzalez minutes before.
The Galaxy (2-1-2) took its lead in the 12th minute. Mike Magee, an active force on the left flank throughout the contest, skied to connect with an exquisite corner from midfielder David Beckham and nod his shot past United goalkeeper Bill Hamid, who saw his first minutes of the season after recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.
It was an eventful match for Beckham, who slid into central midfield to fill in for the suspended Chris Birchall. In addition to serving in dangerous set pieces to relentless boos from the D.C. faithful, Beckham also went in for several hard challenges and picked up his fourth yellow card of the season for an ugly tackle on United forward Josh Wolff late in the first half.
And his presence had a noticeable effect on the D.C. attendance: 26,622, an increase of more than 8,000 from United's home opener against the Columbus Crew.
Some of those fans were disappointed, however, that the Galaxy played without captain Landon Donovan, who was held out as a precautionary measure with a bruised knee. Despite his absence, the Galaxy was in good position to enjoy a tough road victory.
"I felt we deserved the game," Beckham said. "There's no reason why we shouldn't be walking away from this stadium tonight with three points."
After replacing rookie Blake Brettschneider in the 53rd minute, Davies almost immediately began harassing the well-organized Los Angeles back line with his pace. He nearly broke through in the 67th minute when he accelerated past Galaxy defender Leonardo and advanced in on goal, but his touch was a heavy one and Ricketts charged from his net to beat him to the ball.
"I'll go 95 [minutes]," Davies said of his fitness. "I'm ready. I want to play every minute. That's why I came to D.C. United — to play and get all the time I can. Coming off the bench is OK in the beginning. Of course, I haven't played in a year and a half, so you want to ease me in. But at this point, I feel I'm ready to go. I think I can really help this team if I get more minutes."
Although Davies' last-gasp equalizer might make the draw seem like a favorable result for the home side, Olsen wasn't satisfied with his team's play, fingering a poor possession game for United's needing a late goal just to get a result.
"I'm happy we battled back and found a way to get a tie, but overall it's not good enough," Olsen said. "And that starts with me. I think we may be fortunate tonight. And I'll take the blame for that. That's it — that's how I look at it. We've got some work to do."
This. Its the reality of the game. Different from NO contact and going down. Like taking a charge in basketball and going down.
I’m surprised at so many peoples views on dives. I don’t disagree that diving with no contact is bs and should be eliminated, but theres a clear difference.
Exactly. Taking contact and going down should be distinguished from just diving when there’s nothing there at all. Many might have issues even with taking a hit and not staying on your feet, but its a more controversial issue than a straight up dive.
If there’s a foul and you go down is it still the same thing as going down with no contact?
Shouldn’t the ref call the foul first?
You can argue that it wasn’t a foul, but Omar put his hands on Chuck to stop him so its not the same thing as going down with no contact at all.
It just made me a little uneasy actually. Cause obviously the accident then the speeding thing. It’s darkly symbolic.
He can run, he can kick, he can fly…he is Charlie Davies. I thought American players didn’t dive…other than Davis, Altidore, Dempsey….
Goals are, in fact, goals. Last time I checked.
The bitterness of the Red bulls fans is showing (heck, the title of the post was changed after complaints) until I see these same comments about known cheater Henry (ask the Irish) and known hack Marquez (ask Timmy Howard) it’s a bit hard to take seriously. I sorry that Charlie has doubled the Bulls’ goal tally on the season (and that the team has doubled the attendance of your incredible stadium) but taking a foul is part of the game. Gonzalez’s arm certainly interfered with Davies’ ability to create a scoring chance in the box. Had The arm not been out, Davies was unimpeded towards the goal. That’s a penalty, and there are no points for trying to fight off a foul and not scoring. Would we all be talkIng this morning about his heroics NOT going down? Of course not. Someone fouls you in the box, you go down.
And last time I checked, PKs count
(SBI-Nice try but the title of the post wasn’t changed “because of complaints”. I changed it because I felt it was a better headline fitting with the storyline.)
It’s saying with a G not sayin with no G. Be proper. 🙂
If you watch the replay Davies didn’t even think it was a foul. HE started to get up and run the other way. I imagine he thought it was called a goal kick, not a foul. I kinda laughed at that.
The Galaxy should have ended with 9 men, so any bitching about the Pk rings hollow
Actually, before the game the car was unlocked. And the idea was for the goal scorer to open the door and then the team would jump in. VW would have loved it (probably built it into a commercial), it would have been good PR for the league and you’ve got to admit it would have been a unique celebration. But someone locked the car once the game started.
He earned the nickname “El Pescadito” before he went to Dallas. He had a rep as a dirty player (not just a diver) before he went to Dallas. In fact, in a Guatemala-USNT match in Guatemala he tried to put his fist in Keller’s face on a cross once.
Look, we’re being too simplistic here about “diving”. First, you have players you fabricate a foul–they go down when they haven’t been touched. I hate that. They’re creating fouls that didn’t exist–it’s effectively cheating. Second, you have guys who are fouled but they force to ref to make the call by going down. They might even embellish the foul by writhing on the ground (which I think is a bit sissie-fied). One of the most effective examples I ever saw of this was a time when Tomas Dooley (in the “94 WC) against Romania got his defender leaning the wrong way and then when he tried to jump into that opening the defender tugged his shirt–not enough to bring him down but enough to slow him up and give the defender time to recover. The Ref didn’t make a call so Dooley went down and fell on the ball (forcing the referee the choice of either calling the foul OR awarding a drop ball). He called the foul. That was just Dooley effectively saying “you don’t think this was a serious enough foul to stop play but it denied me a big advantage so I’m going to force you to make that call.”
So there’s diving (as in fabricating a foul) and then there’s diving (forcing the ref to acknowledge the foul). And there’s a difference between the two.
3/4 = 75%. Just sayin’.
+1000
It’s too bad the car didn’t split in two.
I still like Davies until he get a reputation as a diver, like Carlos Ruiz. Could be that this is just a one-time thing…maybe.
And the flop wasn’t half as bad as some others I’ve seen where the person gets tapped on the leg by another player and drops and rolls about 20 feet clutching his face… :p
My post was toungue-in-cheek. It was funny when he got up on the platform and the door was locked. A little dry/dark humor never hurt anyone. Lighten up. I guess I didn’t realize there were so many moral and ethical titans on SBI.
I understand your point, however I have always been proud how the US players have not created the habit like other soccer nations do of diving. We may not be better than them, but we sure weren’t going to cheat by diving. I guess times are changing, but it does not make me any more a fan of cheating.
It’s not a remarkable comeback when 95% of your goals are from pk’s
What, because he was in a terrible accident, he can never drive a car again?
After 2 straight years of having points stolen away from DC United in LA, last night was pay-back. It is sad that MLS refereeing is horrible, but how come Arena wasn’t bitching the last two years? He was smiling like a Cheshire cat. When you have the president of an MLS club (Gultati) acting as a federation president you have an inherent problem. Add on to that, Gulati is in charge of operations for about the most pathetic MLS product it makes things even worse.
Ives, how come no more is made of Gulati’s conflict of interest? Especially when the calls go for the Revs. In other countries, people would be fuming.
So now not only does he have to score, and score a morally just goal, but now he can’t even be happy when he does it? This is madness.
Actually, Dempsey flops in non-threatening areas of midfield just about any time he loses possession. Harkes has called him out on it dozens of times on the MNT broadcasts alone. He does it even more at Fulham.
At least Davies was in the box when he flopped.
I’m not saying either one of them are bad players for doing it because I understand, having played the game, that you sell the contact to draw the foul.
On in the US, as an attacker when you dont score you suck…when you do score, it has to be a “moral” goal…..hahahah, thats how it is in the real world. Contact in the box = possible penalty. As a FWD you are assessed by your goal tally, not by your “honor, and courage” to do the right thing. DC came out with a point..period. Not only did his actions lead to the incident but he scored the goal too, exactly what we need on the USMNT….scorers not saints…hahahaha
Yeah but it was also the celebration run to a locked car (why a car?) and drawn out noodle dance that was embarrassing. Someone save the kid.
Read the comments on this game, went to see the highlights…and yes, that was one hell of a dive by Davies. I didn’t think he was Italian. Could have fooled me.
I’m not a gigantic way of the way Charlie celebrates his goal. They’re showy and gaudy and I don’t know, the just don’t sit right with me. Especially since his celebration was like 4 steps starting with a failed attempt to get into the car and ending with a dance that happened way after the fact.
Love Davies. Love the story, but man if that guy doesn’t do a disservice when he celebrates.
Yeah no the best idea running to a car to celebrate. Does the kid think?
Davis came in and played like a supersub. He’s effort and skill affected the game almost immediately. For those of you that are disappointed in “divers” then MLS should be the only league for you. In the best leagues in the world diving or better yet taking on a players and looking for the contact is as essential as dribbling, shooting, control etc. Thats why in a one on one situation the Messi’s, the Ronaldo’s, the Drogba’s etc are very dangerous, because as a seasoned defender you have to worry about the ball, the player, the opening(for the shot) and the contact. Davis simply brought his experience to MLS and it paid off.
I give Davies tons of credit for coming all the way back from the accident, and, obviously, I don’t know him personally…but as a from-my-couch-soccer-fan I look at Charlie and see a pretty self-absorbed kid. Sorry, irregardless of his pathetic dive, I just find it really hard to root for him.
+1. Leave the opera to Italy.
Watch everyone’s reactions on the clip
Did you notice how all of LA’s players were indignant about the call except for one…Omar Gonzalez. Look at his body language. He knows he got beat and did something very stupid.
CD definitely went down easy, but it’s telling that Gonzalez didn’t put up any argument about it.
Dammit Charlie, you’re making it hard to stay a fan of yours…
Please leave the diving to the Latin cultures!
What is the deal with Branko Bošković? A DP that is not contributing.
Gomez got a brace for Pachuca tonight. He should still be in the mix.
rationalize much? “prone to falling down.” geez. dempsey flops all over the place!
I hate diving, too. I would like to see it eradicated from the game even if it takes post-game video replay with suspensions.
Until that day, though, don’t hate a player for doing what most coaches tell them to do: inside the box if you feel a tug or a push you go down.
And while clearly CD9 flopped Gonzales did put his arm out to impede his progress because HE GOT BEAT.
(And in the big picture and setting aside my obvious DCU partisanship, how cool is it that we’re arguing about whether or not CD9 dove to draw a PK and score his 4th goal of the season? A couple months ago that seemed so unlikely.)
Something else that’s bothering me is that Charlie’s theatrics weren’t just limited to his dive, they also involved this gawdy celebration. Ugh!!
The issue about the accident initially made me feel really guilty for being so angry at him but screw that. His rehabilitation and hard work shouldn’t amount to …complacent diving *shudders*.
Nah, just with Galaxy supporters. LOL.
+1.
But bureaucrats won’t have anything to do with it. To happen it’ll have to be built with 100% private money (but maybe with a tax break of some sort).
If and when it gets built that new DCU stadium will ROCK! It’ll be great watching matches like DC-LA, DC-NY and the growing DC-Philly rivalry there.
Keep hope alive!!!
1) Who knew that so many moral and ethical titans peroused SBI?
2) Any “joke” about Charlie’s accident is disgusting.
3) Diving has no place in the game. I really loathe it.
4) I do think he fell easily here. Ugh.
So you endorse cheating…not following you on that one.
While he is prone to falling down more than one would like. I have never seen him not take any contact and dive. Unlike what Davies did tonight.
who really gives an eff about diving? i mean if we talk at the national level, we’ll never get the breaks teams that play “beautiful” football like brazil, spain, and the netherlands do until we embrace the dive as a country. some times you need to fight fire with fire. all of you talking blah blah blah that hes cheating wouldnt say sh*t if it was a world cup game and he dove to secure a point in group play
arjen robben, c ronaldo, nani, villa, torres, kaka, robinho…names sound familiar? all divers
this isnt something you can stick your nose up to and gain a competitive advantage. if you can’t beat em, you gotta join em, and in this case, if you dont join them, you WILL get beat
I lost a lot of respect for Davies there. For those who say it’s only one thing Davies has done and that alone does not warrant for someone to make an unfavorable impression. I would normally agree, however there is only one thing that a player can do that will automatically make me not a fan of the player. That is cheating, and unfortunately for Davies, I will always think of him as a cheater. Plain and simple, there is no room for cheating in any sport. So unfortunate….
Why is the story not about why Davies cannot start for a second rate DC United team? If he can’t start over over-the-hill Josh Wolfe and some other guy I have never prevoiusly heard of, then he must be really still wel behind the Davies of old. I didn’t think he looked too quick on the that stepover and any other defender other than slow-as-molasses Gonzalez would have not let him even get a step on him with that mediocre move. Although I do credit him for going at the man, which shows he at least still has his instincts.
Most of his dives took place when he left LA and went to Dallas. When he came to MLS in 2002 he didn’t dive, he didn’t need to he was tearing MLS defenses left and right!
Yeah Davies has scored like 4 goals of course 3 were PKs he’s obvioulsy ready for the Nats and man u. Not buying the Davies coolaid
So for everyone keeping score its:
Fatal car accident jokes: just regular everyday comedy.
Offense to fatal car accidents: self-righteous douchery.
Offense to people thinking fatal car accident jokes are obnoxious: voice of reason.
Not ALL the time; just at OPPORTUNE times.
There is a big difference.