Charlie Davies on remarkable path to recovery

[Zeppo]

Davies on remarkable path to recovery

Charlie Davies is lucky to be alive. He knows it, and even if he were to forget, there are plenty of reminders.

There are the surgical scars that now tattoo the American soccer star's body. There are the constant reminders from family and friends who never let him forget what he nearly lost, and what he has already overcome. Then there are the pictures burned into his memory of the mangled car he was pulled from after he survived a car crash that killed another passenger on Oct. 13. Davies, 23, sustained multiple serious injuries (a broken right femur and tibia, a broken left elbow, facial fractures and a lacerated bladder). The prognosis was that he would face an arduous six- to 12-month recovery and extensive rehabilitation.

The strongest reminders of how fortunate Davies is come from Davies himself as he pushes through what is shaping up to be a miraculous recovery from that laundry list of major injuries. Less than four months after the crash that threatened to end his promising career, Davies is already jogging at a good rate and working on agility drills that would have seemed impossible just weeks earlier, when simply getting out of a wheelchair was an exhausting exercise.

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[Zeppo]

DAVIES TAKES NEXT STEP

Just four months ago Charlie Davies soccer career looked to be in jeopardy after a fatal car crash left his body a crumpled mass of broken bones. This week, Charlie Davies returned to France and is expected to resume training with club team FC Sochaux in the coming weeks.

Davies’ comeback is far from complete, but the progress he has made to this point has been nothing short of remarkable. After undergoing multiple surgeries following the car wreck in October that left another passenger dead, Davies has already been running and doing agility drills and he is about to embark on the next step - returning to soccer activities.

Davies is still some ways away from returning to action for FC Sochaux, but his target of an April return should not be ruled out. It remains uncertain how his surgically-repaired bones and joints will respond to the rigors of soccer training, but if the next phase of his recovery goes anywhere near as well as the first four months, Davies have more than enough time to play himself into consideration for a World Cup place.

That mere idea would have been unthinkable four months ago.

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/u...-for-mls-yanks

[Farmah]

An incredible turnaround! Youth, self-belief and excellent assisted therapy will do the trick. Hope he makes a full enough recovery to make Bradley's squad!

[Jangle]

A really incredible story. This would make for some good Reality TV and movie.

[T.K.]

A really incredible story. This would make for some good Reality TV and movie.

That guy is a damn idiot. If he had just stayed in his hotel room like he was suppose to instead of going out to party breaking curfew he would never have been in this mess to begin with. He deserves to miss the world cup based on stupidity. The only reality show he belongs on is the Jersey Shore. Hopefully he'll be "fist pumping like champs" from his living room couch while watching the US play this june. - T.K.

[Zeppo]

Davies returns to Sochaux training

Charlie Davies has returned to training with Sochaux, hoping to boost his chances of making the U.S. World Cup roster. Five months after a near-fatal car crash in Virginia, the 23-year-old is working on fitness and doing some work with a ball.

He said Friday that he is "closer and closer to being back" and hopes to play for Sochaux before the end of the season on May 15.

"This upcoming week, I'll be on the field much, much more, and the shots and long balls will continue," Davies said. "More cutting and dribbling, hopefully some finishing."

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[Baddaz]

do they still have that show, that's incredible... he deserves to be on it... unbelievable... that yute has resolve...

[Baddaz]

tk man... thats harsh...

[Zeppo]

Time is running out on Davies's comeback

Five months ago, Charlie Davies could not stand on his own. His once sculptured legs shook under the strain of his own weight. His girlfriend pushed him around in a wheelchair because he could not walk.

After a month in the hospital after a car accident in October that killed a young woman and cost him his standing as one of the most explosive young players in American soccer, Davies was swollen, scarred and in a great deal of pain.

"Somebody took Humpty Dumpty and put him back together again," said James Hashimoto, a trainer with the United States national team, who described Davies’s mangled body as a jigsaw puzzle.

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[Karl]

I think time has run out on the USA. Based on how I have seen coach Bob Bradley's teams have performed, the USA has taken a massive step backwards.

At this time I do not see the USA winning even one match at the World Cup.
Sorry!

[Zeppo]

U.S. striker Davies resumes full training with Sochaux

U.S. national team striker Charlie Davies has resumed full training for the first time since nearly dying in car accident last October.

Davies trained Monday with French club Sochaux less than seven weeks before the World Cup opener for the Americans against England on June 12.

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[Zeppo]

Davies misses U.S. World Cup roster

Charlie Davies, whose recovery from serious injuries sustained in a car accident last October was fueled by hopes of playing in the World Cup, was left off the preliminary list of players for the United States roster.

“He remained part of the conversation right up until yesterday,” Coach Bob Bradley said Tuesday after the roster was announced on ESPNews. “We just felt right now, for Charlie, it is in his best interest to continue his rehab and continue to get back to where he was last year.”

Davies was one of a number of injured players Bradley was considering, but he was the most glaring omission. His teammates Oguchi Onyewu, Stuart Holden and Jay DeMerit, who were all struggling to regain fitness, were included.

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