Charlie Davies is on fire. He's a young American striker who can't stop scoring; not only was he one of the lone bright spots for the USMNT in Mexico City on Wednesday, he also scored two second half goals against French Ligue 1 champions Bordeaux for his new club Sochaux on Saturday. Along with another young American striker, Jozy Altidore, Davies is a promising, exciting, potential-filled player who's career arc is headed sharply upward.
Meanwhile, Davies' countryman Freddy Adu find himself in soccer purgatory. Techincally a Benfica player, Adu does not figure in the Portuguese club's plan, and is desperately hunting down a loan deal elsewhere in Europe. Rumored links to clubs in Denmark and Holland in the last few weeks are promising, but have yet to come to ultimate fruition. Without a loan, Adu may spend another year in Europe not playing, a terrible circumstance for a young player in dire need of experience.
Two players, two paths, two spotlights; while Davies has seemingly come out of nowhere (for all but the most in-tune USMNT fans), Adu has been heralded as the "next big thing" since his adolescent years. Adu jumped into the professional game at an early age, while Davies worked his way through the typical American player path of college-to-pro. Turning down an MLS contract to head overseas to Sweden, Davies has steadily worked his way up the ladder to become the American starlet of 2009, while Adu has faded into the background, becoming a peripheral player for both club and country.
Davies' story is refreshing, and his success encouraging, mostly because he represents the typical American story; his emergence stands in direct contrast to the over-hyped nature of Adu's lack of impact, one that has seemingly turned off many in the American soccer community who bought into Freddy's "savior" potential.
Perhaps Davies has risen up the ranks thanks in part to the lack of attention. The weight places on Adu's shoulder was not only unfair, it may be been cripplingly detrimental to his development. When a young player is given the type of attention that Adu received at at a young age, it's often difficult for them to keep up the motivation needed to improve. It's human nature; not everyone is equipped to deal with premature stardom properly, and Adu's exit from both DC United and MLS indicate that he may not have understood the sacrifice needed to turn himself into the soccer messiah that everyone thought he could be.
Now Adu finds himself stagnating, be it though his own hubris or a simple matter of circumstance. Time has not run out on him necessarily, but the completing the road to redemption and summarily reversing his career arc are a long way off.
Davies has no such pressure. While a star both at high school in New Hampshire and in college at Boston College, Davies received none of the widespread media attention that Adu attracted. The label "phenom" never came into play with Davies, and his path from amateur to professional soccer took a more mundane route. Heading to Sweden after college seemed an odd choice considering that Davies would have been a high MLS draft pick and a sure bet for a Generation Adidas scholarship; but it set the stage for the young American to turn heads on the continent that might not have otherwise taken notice had he played professionally in the United States. Able to contribute immediately in the second-tier European league that is Sweden's Allsvenskan, Charlie improved dramatically as a player. When given the opportunity to showcase himself on the international stage of the Confederations Cup, Davies seized it completely, adding to his resume. His effort paid off on the club level when Hammarby sold him to Ligue 1 side Sochaux, a step up for him and an indication of his overall growth as a player.
Since his transfer, Davies has scored once in World Cup qualifying for his country, and twice for his new club in France. "Hot" doesn't begin to describe his form.
Rarely will a player, massive potential or not, be forced to endure (or be lucky enough to receive) the type of attention that Freddy Adu did as a youth. Whether Adu would have come to this point in his career without that attention is impossible to know. But it's worth asking; would Adu have become a better player had the spotlight not fallen on him at such a young age?
The system for player development as it currently existe in the United States means that most will finally themselves on the Charlie Davies path. From youth, to college, to professional, they chip away, constantly working to get better, hoping to find themselves fulfilling their potential in their early-twenties. Two such players, Anton Peterlin and Cody Arnaux, are doing just that, and are now signed to contracts with a high-profile English club in Everton. Add college star Marcus Tracy, whose situation more closely parallels Davies' at this point in his career, and examples pile up. Anonymous names not too long ago, they are now seen as possible future players for their country; if they had been pegged as sure things at fourteen, would they have made the same leap?
Identifying promising talent in a country of 300 million will never be an easy task. The college system and MLS draft serve as stop-gap approaches to filling professional rosters in the United States and Canada because the work of scouting and development is so daunting and expensive. To damn that system because it doesn't fit the world standard is understandable, and the future still probably lies with overhauling the process. But for now, while prodigies and phenoms are chewed up and spit out by the media and hype machine, it seems clear that sometimes the status quo can produce quality players. Anonymity is a powerful motivator.
Case in point, Charlie Davies.
