For the 2010 World Cup, U.S. Soccer has announced it has chosen its preliminary 30-player roster. Hometown newspapers reported news of local players making the U.S. Soccer 2010 World Cup roster, but one person who did not make the cut, Charlie Davies, is capturing U.S. Soccer World Cup headlines nationwide. American soccer fans and soccer media were rooting for Charlie Davies to make the team, but his recovery from a near fatal car crash last fall has come up short.
The roster for the U.S. Soccer 2010 World Cup
On June 1, U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Bob Bradley will cut the U.S. Soccer 2010 World Cup roster down to 23 players. While Bradley deemed Charlie Davies not yet ready to play at the World Cup level, others he selected were perceived by some as the cheapest personal loans. Real Salt Lake’s Robbie Findley is one name that is surfacing among Bradley’s dissenters. U.S. Soccer Daily reports that Findley left a game last weekend with an injury and has failed to produce this season. On the matter, they asked, “You mean to tell me that an 80 percent Charlie Davies can’t add the same things that a dinged up Robbie Findley can?”
Charlie Davies and his motley replacements
While Charlie Davies did not make the U.S. Soccer 2010 World Cup preliminary roster, Bradley’s so-called “motley collection” of forwards has been reported by the New York Times. Jozy Altidore, the youngest, is considered the most talented. Veteran center forward Brian Ching, despite a hamstring strain, also made the cut. Instead of Davies, Bradley chose Los Angeles Galaxy Edson Buddle and American striker Herculez Gomez, who plays in Mexico. “He remained part of the conversation right up until yesterday,” Bradley said Tuesday on ESPNews announcing the roster. “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.”
Charlie Davies and his near-fatal accident
Charlie is 23-years old, and he is from New Hampshire and Boston College. According to the Associated Press, Davies was in his first season with French soccer club Sochaux when he was seriously injured in a crash as he was heading to George Washington Parkway in Virginia. The crash killed another passenger. Davies suffered a broken and dislocated left elbow, tibia and fibula, a broken right femur, along with a broken nose, forehead and eye socket. He also underwent a ruptured bladder and bleeding on the brain.
The 2010 World Cup dates
The U.S. Soccer preliminary 2010 World Cup team starts practicing Monday in Princeton, NJ. Dates for the U.S. Soccer World Cup dates will include exhibitions against the Czech Republic on May 25 in East Hartford, CT, and four days later compete against Turkey in Philadelphia. In South Africa, U.S. Soccer opens the 2010 World Cup dates with an exhibition against Australia on June 5. The Americans, eliminated from the FIFA World Cup in 2006 during the first round, open the tournament against one of the 2010 World Cup favorites, England.
