I really started watching the USMNT during the 2010 World Cup, and by then Davies had already been in his accident and his career was in limbo. He was able to fight back and play for many years in MLS, but it also seems clear that his accident prevented him from fulfilling his true potential. For those of you who followed him with Hammarby and the national team, do you think he was a future star (i.e. a Pulisic trajectory) or merely a promising young player (maybe comparable to how we see someone like Weah right now)? When I think back to the 2010 World Cup, it's obvious that the USA would've benefited from more viable options at striker. Robbie Findley was shoehorned into the "fast striker" alternative role after Davies got injured, but it seems like he was a shadow of the player Davies was supposed to be.
Nowhere near Pulisic trajectory, but a very important player that we simply were not able to replicate or replace, well above what Weah's managed so far. His speed and his strength allowed him to occupy and threaten even very good defenders and opened all sorts of space for Donovan and Dempsey (the two real danger men on that side) to operate within.
The golden age is probably just to come. Davies was a talent, but not a Pulisic/Reyna/Dest level talent. Still, a guy who might have topped out getting some PT in one of the Big 4 leagues in Europe at a position of real need for us. (And it still is, unless one of our CF prospects really comes through.)
Charlie Davies was excellent. His speed and getting behind the lines of defenses was back breaking. I absolutely believe our 2010 world cup would have been completely different if he is healthy for that one. He was on a trajectory for greatness by USMNT standards, I am certain of that. The Confed Cup showed that, and he was still getting better to after that. It worked so well that, yeah, we tried the Homeless Charlie Davies, AKA Robbie Finley in the World Cup because we were so desperate to replicate it. For me, him and Holden before injury were going to be lynchpins for the USMNT. I think he would have found his way to the EPL eventually.
The Davies goal I will always remember is this one at the Azteca. Donovan played an amazing through ball to a streaking Davies, and he made no mistake with a classy finish in an incredibly hostile environment. I would take *that* Davies (mid 2009 form) over any striker in our pool today. Footnote to the goal... If memory serves, Donovan played with H1N1 flu that day, although we didn't find out about that until after the match. Donovan tired markedly in the second half, and Mexico came back to win it 2-1, one of the goals being scored on a play down the right wing where Donovan couldn't keep up with his mark. Footnote to the footnote... the H1N1 experience inspired me a few months later to throw a 10-pack of respirators in my basement just in case a more serious pandemic came along. Wore that damn thing today as I went out to a local bakery.
Bob trying to build a team without Davies or Holden in 2011 was the reason why we struggled in the Gold Cup and got so thoroughly shellacked by Mexico, if you ask me.
Davies was an absolute burner first and foremost, had an imposing physical presence and was a good finisher. By US standards may have been one of the best pure forwards we produced, but then we haven't produced many great pure forwards. He differed from the current group because he was more a raw talent and this group seems to have much more refined technical ability. What he did in 09 before the accident was inspirational though and if we'd had him and Jozy together it would have made a huge difference; they played very well off each there with Davies running at goal and Jozy holding the ball up and laying it off. The Confeds Cup was the best glimpse of what this might have been. I still remember the moment I heard about the accident. I was driving home late from work listening to the radio and caught the announcement just by accident. It hit me hard perhaps because I'd been dealing with a pretty bad injury most of that year; I ugly-cried like a mo-fo the whole way home.
Agreed. He was an important cog on the USMNT, but individually, he was a good player with a bright future. Could he have been a really good player? Possibly, but no guarantee. He didn't have the dribbling or passing skills to compensate for the impact of the car accident on his physical skills. I have seen many players like him have a good couple of seasons, but not a long career.
He was still developing and at worst was getting Ligue 1 minutes. I think he would have been a better Bobby Wood which means he would have gotten 80-100 caps and probably be on 25-30 goals and 3 World Cups with health.
he was exactly what the team needed and the team was very good. a national team hero just because of the fit. so sad still
Just to repeat what everyone else said, he was pretty good for the US and would have been a regular at a position of weakness. I would have been surprised if he didn't end up scoring 20+ goals for the US and 30+ wouldn't have been shocking at all.
I remember that goal so well. There are only a handful of teams in the world who could contend with that kind of speed. It made Bunker Bob Ball for a time ruthlessly deadly.
He wasn't a big guy, but he was so physically strong, he could manhandle a lot of centerbacks. I think I remember reading somewhere that he was a really gifted high school wrestler, state finals or something. Makes perfect sense. He ran like a wrestler, very difficult to knock off balance or take body position away from.
I agree that he would probably have been better than Bobby, but the numbers that you quoted would probably been the high end. It would have been more likely 1-2 WCs and 15-25 goals.
That and the Mexico "golden generation" was just coming into its own. Chicha, Dos Santos, and Vela were yank killers at the time. Won't take anything away from them. Jiminez is the only one who commands that level of respect now, thankfully.
Davies had a goal and an assist in the Confederations Cup He scored a goal at Azteca in WCQing. Before the accident, he had 2 goals and an assist in 549 minutes of Ligue 1 action. That looks like an elite trajectory for a US player. Over the past twenty years we've only had 1 striker put together a serious career in the Top-5. Davies could've been the second, which would've been special. Simply being a striker of solid Top-5 quality would've made him a great asset to the National Team.
I was never really on the Davies was the next big thing train, but obviously it got derailed before he could prove me wrong. He just might have been. Never know. Robbie Findley running aimlessly was unfortunate as a result.
I would take Summer 2009 Charlie Davies to start over any other striker we have ever had. He was sprinter-fast, strong as a bull and had a nasty mean streak of filthy swagger. We were intimidating with him up there. When he came into the Egypt match at the Feds Cup Bob Bradley was about to be fired. The goal in Azteca is eternal and the celebration is a poster I literally have in my office.
Others here have summarized Davies' strengths and his trajectory well. He was the perfect foil for our system at the time. Charlie's ability to run the channels and get in behind defenders provided a good complement to Jozy Alitdore's hold-up play in our 4-4-2. Davies' speed and directness made him a great fit for our counterattacking style (see this example -- still the most beautiful goal in USMNT history in my opinion). And he was a solid finisher -- exactly the type of guy we needed to get on the end of assists from Landon Donovan, as the 2009 WCQ goal at Azteca demonstrated. Davies scored 14 goals and finished 4th in the Swedish Allsvenskan scoring table in 2008 as a 22 year old, and he got off to a solid start after moving to Sochaux in Ligue 1, with 2 goals in 547 minutes. The style comparison to Bobby Wood is fair, but Charlie Davies was a better prospect than Wood has ever been, IMO. It's so hard to predict, but if he had stayed healthy, I think he would have been a consistent double digit goal scorer in Ligue 1 or an equivalent and could have easily hit 20-25+ goals for the USMNT. I believe he would have helped change our fortunes at the 2010 World Cup, and really would have helped us early on in the 2014 cycle before Jozy Altidore found his goalscoring form (remember, Altidore was in a scoring slump in 2011-2012 and we struggled in the attack those years). Can you imagine how much more dynamic we would have been in 2014 with Davies coming in at forward after Jozy went down with his injury?
I'm no talent scout, that's for sure. But I was a huge fan. I was at his first cap in 2007 against China in San Jose. (Spartan Stadium, formerly an occasional site of USMNT games where thankfully I don't think the team has played since.) His trajectory was remarkable, and he seemed like the kind of guy who could peak later after playing just plain-old high school soccer in MA, then three years at Boston College. I ruminate sometimes about the ill fortune that has befallen the USMNT over the years, and nothing exemplifies it more than the car crash. What a gut punch that was. BTW, I don't know how many of you remember this, but many bigsoccer posters were ready to crucify Bob for leaving him off the 2010 roster, which seems ridiculous now (and more than a little ridiculous at the time in my opinion).