Holy crap, Charlie Davies is going to play in the World Cup.
Yesterday's story from Ives Galarcep has shot through the American soccer community like a missile of good feelings. In its wake, every blogger has a post on the remarkable healing abilities and resolve of Davies, with jaws dropped in understandable awe. I'm no exception.
Suddenly, we all have hope - hell, more than hope - that Charlie will be back playing in time enough to be fully fit and on form when the United States kicks off with England on June 12th in Rustenburg. Think about that for a moment; when the news of Davies injuries broke back in October, almost every National Team fan wrote him off for the World Cup, even as we were pouring our hearts out in sympathy.
Just get well. Forget playing, because that really doesn't matter. Just get well.
Except for Charlie it did matter, and it now appears as though he will be playing, and doing so soon. The man is jogging, has a goal to hit the field by next month, and plans to be back in France with Sochaux before the end of their domestic season.
Holy crap, Charlie Davies is going to play in the World Cup.
Wait a second. Am I allowed to say that yet? Do I have some obligation as a blogger to reign everyone in, be the voice of reason, and just generally mute the enthusiasm? I mean, what if he doesn't play? What if his rehabilitation hits a bump, a setback, a very possible snag that slows things down and keeps him from being fully fit come June?
Eh...
If you have the heart to play the buzzkill with no reservations, you might want to check your pulse. Still, there's certainly room for logic and reason, both of which say things like "He's not on the field yet" and "Even if he can play, he might not be the same"; the problem is that those perfectly valid concerns carry with them all of the joy and exaltation of the human spirit as poetry written by an angst-ridden fifteen year old girl. Simply put, no one likes a wet blanket.
But wait; Charlie himself said that the talk among USMNT fans of the need to find a replacement for him has served as a motivator. That means that anyone suggesting that Bob Bradley should dismiss Davies as a possibility and move on is actually helping by doing so, and shouldn't necessarily stop just because the vocal majority won't like it too much. The obligation returns, not because people need to be reigned in, but because in an ironic way, it might be better to follow it.
What to do?
Let's put the World Cup aside for a moment. Whether Davies is ready to play in the tournament or not, his recovery to this point seems (and I only say seems because I haven't seen it with my own eyes) miraculous. No matter the time it ultimately takes for him to return to the field, it looks like a certainty that he will. Beyond that, meaning what his ultimate level of play will be, is impossible to know; without any evidence to back it up, I'm convinced he'll return to being the burgeoning talent he was before. That's a matter of faith, not fact. I suspect most of you have the same gut feeling.
My other gut feeling? If he is in the World Cup team, Charlie's comeback would be the biggest American soccer story to hit the mainstream since some English guy signed up to play . ESPN, and rightly so, will run the story into the ground. Americans will buy up Charlie Davies #9 shirts on an massive level and casual fans will suddenly be interested in the US World Cup campaign. The insular community will freak out with the newbies arrive, and soccer will (momentarily) be the biggest thing on the American sports landscape.
World Cup + England match + Charlie = Kaboom.
I'm getting ahead of myself. What was it I was saying something about obligation? Oh right...while I mostly reject it, I certainly want to do my part to motivate Charlie to get back to full strength as quickly as possible. If "doubting" him is what it takes, I guess I can bite the bullet.
Let's hope Bob Bradley sees more out of potential Davies replacements in next month's friendly than he did against Honduras. There's not much time to find a striker.
Holy crap, Charlie Davies is going to play in the World Cup.
