Davies' comeback is 'painful to watch'
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Sep 23, 2010
[AMERICANS ABROAD] Don't expect to see Charlie Davies playing for Sochaux in France's Ligue 1 any time soon. Interviewed
on France radio on Thursday night, Sochaux coach Francis Gillot said it won't be before January that he'll be able to count on him. In the opinion of Sochaux's
fitness trainer, Cedric Blomme, it's even a struggle for Davies to play on Sochaux's "B" team in the CFA, the fourth level of France soccer.
On "Coach Courbis," the RMC
talk show hosted by former French coach Rolland Courbis, Gillot said, "Charlie is still very far from achieving his level. I can't yet count on him. We'll have to wait until
January."
Seriously injured almost a year ago in a car crash outside Washington, D.C., Davies has been playing for Sochaux's "B" team.
Sébastien Daucourt of L'Est Républicain recently wrote of Davies in
his last home game with the Sochaux reserves at the stade Rene Blum that it was "painful to watch" the American:
"In an hour on the field, his misery lingered. He touched just a few
meager balls with which he hardly did anything. He even began to grouse after his teammates before heading directly to the locker room, his head low, after his substitution."
In his next
game at Louhans Cuiseaux, Davies picked up a red card, was suspended and hasn't played for the reserves in the CFA since.
Says Blomme, "He is
still far what you can hope for, even in the CFA."
According to Blomme, one theory is that the amount of time it takes to rehabilitate is equal to the time that one was disabled, and he
hopes Davies will make "significant" improvement between now and the end of the year.
that makes me sad,, I won't give up on Charlie for one though.... patience
Also, the longer the comeback takes and the harder it is, the longer he has to regret breaking curfew that night, getting in the car, etc. The struggle in his head must be tough. His difficulty is a good lesson to young players though about how a bad choice that seems small can really mess things up for you.
Brian, love your sympathy card douchebag. Let me guess, you NEVER broke curfew huh? Never. Breaking curfew for a game you're not even supposed to play in, WOW, let's give him some jail time on top of his painful recovery. That ought to show those kids how to fall in line and follow the rules.
Even if he never regains his form, I'm still form him, because he's not a druggie, he's not a womanizer, he was a nobody before the Confed Cup. But he always smiled, was fast as lighting, and never gave up on the field. I only wish I'd found out about him sooner, so I could have watched him play more.
Once I saw him, I was bewildered that this guy escaped my radar. I'd heard he was tearing it up in Sweden, but, come on, it's Sweden. That league doesn't exactly turn heads in terms of quality.
If you think for second he doesn't regret that night, than you're a bigger fool than I already think you are, Brian.
This is going to come from the viewpoint of a hardcore US Soccer fan. The whole deal just pisses me off! We are not the deepest country in the world. We really need strikers. We finally have one with some class and pace, and a player up front with a nose for the goal. Somebody who can score while playing at the hectic pace of the international level where forwards have mere miliseconds to put a def touch on the ball and get a shot off. Charlie was a guy who really helped our club and provided lots of space for the trailing midfielders on any play. He had world class speed. The very thing we so desperately need. Then in those couple days we lose him most likely forever, and we lose Gooch. Neither will ever be the same. Its just the biggest tragedy for US Soccer that isnt talked about in the media much. The USA has produced less than a handful of true strikers in our soccer history, and to lose one while he's out at night when he's supposed to be in his hotel room! Damn! It just pisses me off! I feel for Charlie, but im pissed too.
Sorry for the rant, but i need to vent!
Well it's clear that we are thin up top as a nation, but the idea that when things are hard our guys should just come home instead of tough it out overseas like real well payed professionals is just never going to fly for me... yes Davies is finding it hard to regain his form, well that is what happens when you break several bones and puncture your bladder... you tend not to be quite yourself for a good long while, but he really SHOULDN'T turn tale and come home, as there is nothing here for him at least until next Spring, where as in France at least he has the chance to PLAY at some level...but if he can't hack it, well he'll have serious trouble convincing some other mid level European team that he is as good and as tough a player as he can be... this is a matter of future earnings and whether or not he can be a true front line "money" player or whether fair or not he is tagged as a flash in the pan... he's still too young to give up and "Come Home" ... it's tough, but he needs to show his employers and any who might be interested in him in the future that he is the pro we all think him to be...he simply has to tough it out, at least through until next Spring.
Unlike Adu or for that matter Altidore, Davies HAS shown the ability to regularly score for his club sides...and that is something that teams continue to pay very good money to acquire... I hope he makes it back, because he was one of the best attackers we have produced in the last decade, and we clearly could use him again even if he can only regain some of his form!
(ICE)
Hey, he's lucky to be alive. Maybe some additional rehab or physical therapy would help, but give the man a break. That was a horrific wreck !