Charlie Davies

Charles Desmond Davies (born June 25, 1986) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward.

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 was capped seventeen times for the United States national team between 2007 and 2009, and scored four international goals.

On October 13, 2009, Davies was involved in a serious car crash on the George Washington Parkway that 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 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 alongside fellow professional Mike Fucito. 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, a 3x New England Prep School Champion while earning National Prep All-American status his sophomore & senior seasons.

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 sign with Nike and 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 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 rumors regarding his transfer to a larger club elsewhere in Europe, but ultimately nothing materialized, 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 equalizer 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

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