Charlie Davies

For the English rugby union player, see Charlie Davies (rugby player).

Charlie Davies

Davies during a 2011 regular season match against the Houston Dynamo
Personal information
Full name	Charles Desmond Davies
Date of birth	(1986-06-25) June 25, 1986
Place of birth	Manchester, New Hampshire, United States
Height
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	New England Revolution
Number	9
Youth career
2004–2006	Boston College Eagles
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2006	Westchester Flames	9	(6)
2007–2009	Hammarby	56	(21)
2009–2012	Sochaux	10	(2)
2011	→ D.C. United (loan)	26	(11)
2012–2014	Randers FC	23	(0)
2013	→ New England Revolution (loan)	4	(0)
2014–	New England Revolution	51	(13)
International career
2004–2005	United States U20	10	(0)
2007–2008	United States U23	6	(1)
2007–2009	United States	17	(4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of October 26, 2015

Charles Desmond "Charlie" Davies (born June 25, 1986) is an American soccer player who plays as a striker with the New England Revolution in Major League Soccer.

Davies set several soccer records at his high school, the Brooks School, before appearing for the Boston College Eagles and the Westchester Flames in college. Davies signed his first professional contract with Swedish Allsvenskan club Hammarby IF in December 2006 before joining Sochaux in July 2009.

Davies has been capped seventeen times for the United States national team, with four international goals.

On October 13, 2009, Davies was involved in a serious car crash on the George Washington Parkway which killed a fellow passenger and left Davies with severe injuries that kept him out of the 2010 World Cup, and effectively ended his international career.

Youth and college

Born in Manchester, New Hampshire, as a child Davies was encouraged to play soccer and coached by his father Kofi Davies, an immigrant from the Gambia. He attended the Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts and graduated in 2004. While there he set many Brooks scoring records, scoring twenty-nine and thirty goals in his junior and senior seasons, respectively. In his senior campaign, Davies led Brooks School to a 15–0 league record, and New England Class-A Championship. Davies also starred in wrestling at Brooks, earning National Prep All-American his senior season.

After prep school Davies attended Boston College, where he starred for the Eagles for three seasons. His sophomore season was cut short due a knee injury suffered in the first half of the season opener. During his college years he also played with Westchester Flames of the USL Premier Development League, scoring six goals in nine appearances. He was a finalist for the Hermann Trophy in 2006, capping his comeback season. He finished his college career with twenty-four goals and ten assists in thirty-seven games, including fifteen goals in sixteen games his final season.

Professional career

Rather than finishing his degree at Boston College, Davies decided to turn pro after three years of college. He was a well-established professional prospect, and was expected to be a very high MLS draft pick had he chosen to accept the Generation Adidas contract that he was offered. Ultimately, Davies decided to try his luck in Europe rather than signing with Major League Soccer.

Hammarby

After an unsuccessful trial at Dutch club Ajax, Davies signed his first professional contract with Swedish Allsvenskan club Hammarby IF in December 2006. Although he initially was placed in the starting lineup, he had trouble finishing and spent his first year with the club alternating between being a starter and a substitute. On June 24, 2007, Davies netted his first goal for the club, which was the decisive goal in Hammarby's match against Faroese club Klaksvik in the first round of the 2007 Intertoto Cup, but he was still unable to score in the Allsvenskan. Davies credits both his coach, Tony Gustavsson, and Uruguayan star and former Hammarby teammate Sebastián Eguren with guiding his work ethic and attitude through his struggles. In the final match of the 2007 season Davies broke through and scored a hat-trick against GAIS.

The 2008 season was a major breakthrough for Davies. He scored fourteen goals in twenty-seven games, twenty-five of which were starts. As a result of his strong performance in 2008 there were many rumours regarding his transfer to a larger club elsewhere in Europe, but ultimately nothing materialised, and Davies returned to Hammarby.

The 2009 season began well for Davies, who scored four goals in the first nine league games. He also scored two extra time goals in a 2009 Swedish Cup match against Åtvidaberg, a ninety-ninth-minute equaliser and the winning goal just before extra time expired, to propel his club to a 3–2 victory in the third round of the tournament.

In the ninth league match of the season, however, he was issued a five match suspension after he elbowed one of his opponents, Örebro defender Michael Almebäck in the face, resulting in a bloody mouth. Davies subsequently left Sweden to join up with the U.S. national team, marking his last appearance with Hammarby.

Sochaux

On July 10, 2009, before returning from his suspension in Sweden, it was announced that Davies would sign with Ligue 1 club Sochaux. On August 15, in his second game with Sochaux, Davies came on as a second-half substitute and scored twice; Sochaux ultimately lost the game to Bordeaux, 3–2. However, after only eight appearances with the club, Davies was seriously injured in a car crash while in the United States. On April 26, 2010, Davies returned to full training with his club and was finally placed in the gameday roster for the December 19 match against Bordeaux.

After having spent 2011 on loan to D.C. United, Davies returned to Sochaux. He made his first appearance since his accident in a 1–0 loss against Rennes on February 11, 2012.

D.C. United

After a ten-day evaluation period with the club during their pre-season, Davies signed on loan with D.C. United for the 2011 MLS season. Davies made his debut as a substitute in the 52nd minute, against the Columbus Crew on March 19, 2011 scoring two goals. A week later he scored his third goal in a 2–1 loss against New England, and, as of May 4, led MLS in scoring with six goals scored. On June 24, Davies was fined $1000 for diving. On September 11, Davies scored a hat-trick off of three assists from Chris Pontius to beat Chivas USA 3–0 in California. The win put United into tenth place in the standings, the final playoff spot, just above the New York Red Bulls. United announced on December 1, 2011 that they would not exercise its December 1 option to secure his permanent transfer from Sochaux. After his loan spell at D.C. United, Davies spoke out about the club's disappointing season and said he was involved in a disagreement with the club's coaching staff .

Randers

At the end of the season, Davies was on the verge of leaving Sochaux after reaching an agreement to terminate the contract with rumors spreading that he was on his way to join AZ and American team-mate Jozy Altidore but this was denied by technical director Earnie Stewart, who insisted that the club had no interest in Davies. Eventually, Davies signed for Danish side Randers on a two-year deal. Davies made his debut for the club, coming on as a substitute, in a 1–0 win over OB on July 22, 2012. He since has yet to make his first start in the league, having played in the third round of Danish Cup in a 2–1 win over Næstved and finished his time there without scoring a goal.

New England Revolution

On August 8, 2013, Davies was loaned to the New England Revolution for the remainder of the 2013 MLS season. In early 2014, Davies and Randers agreed to terminate his contract, allowing him to join New England on a permanent basis.

International

File:Charlie-davies.jpg

Davies before a match for the United States men's national team

Youth

Davies played ten games, mostly as a substitute, for the United States U-20 men's national soccer team, but did not make the roster for the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship. He was the last player cut from the Youth Championship roster. However, the U-20 team would include him in the roster for the Elite Milk Cup competition a month later. He led the team to the final where he scored a hatrick, making him the MVP of the competition and giving the US its first Milk Cup success. Davies next focused on the under-23 national team as his next target for international play. He later trained and played with the team, eventually making the roster for the men's tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics. As a member of the United States men's Olympic team he made only one appearance in the three games the United States team played at the Olympics. He came on as a substitute in the team's last match against Nigeria, where he nearly tied the match when his header rang off the crossbar in the waning moments, which would have sent the team through to the knockout rounds had it gone into the net.

Senior

He made his debut for the senior national team on June 2, 2007, as a substitute in a 4–1 friendly victory over China in San Jose, California. Later that summer he was a part of the squad that took part in the Copa América 2007 in Venezuela. On October 15, 2008, he scored his first national team goal in a 2–1 loss to Trinidad and Tobago during the third round of CONCACAF qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He added his second national team goal against Egypt in the final group stage game of the 2009 Confederations Cup. In the following game against Spain, Davies was involved in his strike partner Jozy Altidore's opening goal. On August 12, 2009, Davies scored the opening goal in a 2–1 loss to Mexico in Mexico City, becoming only the fourth American to score against Mexico in the Azteca Stadium.

Davies was left off the U.S. roster for the 2010 FIFA World Cup after he was not cleared medically by his French club team, Sochaux.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
01.	October 15, 2008	Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago	Trinidad and Tobago	1 – 1	1 – 2	Q 2010 World Cup
02.	June 21, 2009	Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Phokeng, South Africa	Egypt	1 – 0	3 – 0	2009 Confederations Cup
03.	July 6, 2009	Qwest Field, Seattle, USA	Grenada	4 – 0	4 – 0	2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup
04.	August 12, 2009	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico	Mexico	1 – 0	1 – 2	Q 2010 World Cup

Career statistics

Statistics accurate as of January 9, 2014

Club	Season	League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Hammarby	2007	20	3	0	0	-	-	8	1	28	4
	2008	27	14	4	1	-	-	-	-	31	15
	2009	9	4	2	3	-	-	-	-	11	7
	Total	56	21	6	4	0	0	8	1	70	26
Sochaux	2009–10	8	2	0	0	-	-	-	-	8	2
	Total	8	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	2
D.C. United	2011	26	11	1	0	-	-	-	-	27	11
	Total	26	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	27	11
Sochaux	2011–12	2	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	2	0
	Total	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Randers	2012–13	23	0	3	0	-	-	-	-	26	0
	Total	23	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	26	0
New England	2013	4	0	-	-	0	0	-	-	4	0
	2014	18	3	1	0	5	4	-	-	24	7
	Total	22	3	1	0	5	4	0	0	28	7
Career total		137	37	11	4	5	4	8	1	161	46

Personal

On June 29, 2012, Davies married his college grirlfriend, Nina. They now reside in Hingham, Massachusetts.

Automobile accident

On October 13, 2009, Davies, who was in Washington, D.C. for a World Cup Qualifier game against Costa Rica, was a passenger in an SUV that went out of control on the George Washington Parkway and struck a metal railing at about 3:15 a.m., tearing the vehicle in half. The accident shut down the George Washington Parkway until 8:15 a.m. that morning. The accident killed a 22-year-old woman who was in the car with Davies, while Davies himself suffered a lacerated bladder, fractured right tibia and femur, a fractured elbow, multiple facial fractures, and bleeding on the brain. In an interview with ESPN's Jeremy Schaap on December 4, Davies said that he expected to be running by March and would be fit to play at the World Cup. On January 25, 2010, ESPNsoccernet reported Davies was jogging and hoped to return to Sochaux by April. Davies returned to France to complete his rehabilitation with his club on February 17, 2010, with plans to commence full team training within a month. He resumed light training with the club on March 22. On May 11, it was announced by coach Bob Bradley that Davies would not be on the preliminary national team roster for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, as Sochaux had not cleared him medically.

Two years after the accident Davies filed a $20 million lawsuit against Das Enterprises, which operates the Shadow Room, and Red Bull North America, which hosted the private event at which alcohol was served. The parents of the women killed in the accident also filed suit against the nightclub owner and Red Bull in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.

External links

• MLS player profile
• Charlie Davies profile on U.S. Soccer
• Charlie Davies profile on Svenskfotboll.se (Swedish)
• Charlie Davies at National-Football-Teams.com