Charlie Davies nearly made the comeback of a lifetime this summer, but the twenty year old forward was overlooked by Bob Bradley for the United States 30 man roster. And a huge part of the reason why was because of the medical request sent by Davies’ league team Sochaux. The club claimed that although Davies was willing to play, he shouldn’t. They believed he still needed at least the summer time to improve his health and requested that the USA did not pick him for the World Cup.
The USA staff complied and Davies was obviously upset by the fact that his league team was partly responsible for his absence in the World Cup. And since last January the American forward has not played in a single regular season minute following that near-death experience in a terrible car wreck that left the driver of the vehicle dead.
But Davies is on the brink of making the comeback of a lifetime this August rather then this June like we had initially hoped.
The young forward has played in three straight exhibition matches although he has just seen reserve minutes in those matches so far. The forward has yet to score a goal since his recovery, but he did say that he is steadily improving each exhibition match and the fact that he has played in three in a row means that his stamina must be greatly improved.
The Sochaux season begins on August 7th and Davies is expected to see at least reserve minutes in the match. It will probably take the forward some time to regain his form, but the fact that he will be playing at the start of the 2010/2011 season is a remarkable feat alone.
photo credit: Robbie Howell