A Big Loss for US Soccer

Horrific news hit US Soccer late yesterday afternoon when information spread about a fatal car accident involving rising star forward Charlie Davies. The accident occurred at 3:15am Tuesday morning when the car Davies was traveling in lost control and smashed into the guardrail on the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Washington D.C. Davies was severely injured, while another passenger, 22 year-old Ashley Roberta, was killed. Officials confirmed that neither Davies nor Roberta was driving the vehicle. The identity of the driver, who survived the crash as well, has not been released. Alcohol has not been ruled out as a factor of the crash.

Davies was air-lifted to the hospital and underwent five hours of surgery to repair a lacerated bladder, punctured lung, fractured femur and tibia in his right leg, fractured left elbow, and facial fractures. After the treating doctors released the extent of Davies’ injuries, it’s clear that he is lucky to be alive. In a statement about Davies, Dr. Dan Kalbac said, "Injuries of this nature usually require a recovery period of six to 12 months and extensive rehabilitation. Due to Charlie's fitness level, his prognosis for recovery and his ability to resume high-level competition is substantially improved."

Two comments about the incident….

One, Davies was clearly in violation of a team curfew, no matter what time the US team set. While the news of the crash is saddening, my reaction is more of anger. Consider yourself Charlie Davies... two nights before a match, in which you are supposed to start, would you be out into the early morning – drinking or no drinking aside? First, think about yourself. Since June your career has taken off. You blasted onto the scene in the Confederations Cup with the US National Team and because of your great performance you earned a transfer from the little known Swedish club, Hammarby, to a Ligue 1 French club, Sochaux. You are now a mainstay in the US starting XI and are considered the fastest man on the squad, providing a perfect complement to another rising star Jozy Altidore. Your speed mixed with Altidore’s power possibly makes you two the best forward tandem in US Soccer history. Finally, you and your team just qualified for the World Cup starting next June.

Considering all these great things that just happened to you because of your hard work and your God-given skills, would you risk all of that for a fun night out two nights before a match? If it were me, the answer is absolutely not! Be selfish for a moment. Think about where your career is going. Then be considerate and think about your team and your country! While I am upset for Davies, I continue to find myself upset with Davies as well. Not only has he let himself down, he has let his French club down, his US team down, and the few but passionate US Soccer fans down. As a goalkeeper, I was lucky enough to play against Davies in high school. I got to witness his talents first hand as he scored on me several times. It is a shame that one mistake, one night of breaking the rules, can threaten to take your amazing talents away from you. Davies most likely will now miss the rest of the French soccer season as well as his chance to play in the 2010 World Cup.

Second, I was reading peoples’ reaction to the accident in the comments section online and one observation really struck me. They said, I’m paraphrasing here, “In the US, it’s much different from Europe considering that in England young soccer players are treated like rock stars. They are signed by big clubs in their early teens and through the newspapers over the years are touted to be the next great thing. In the US, upcoming soccer players are basically unknown except to the very few that passionately follow the sport. We, as players growing up, have the pleasure of knowing them and playing on the same field as them in high school and college before they make it to the international stage. Therefore, when horrible things happen to our players, they hit a little closer to home.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

My thoughts are with Charlie and his family, the Roberta family, and any other person directly affected by this tragic incident.

Everyone makes mistakes, I know, but the biggest mistake is not learning from them. Get better quickly, Charlie.