Charlie Davies omitted from USA's 30-man preliminary World Cup roster
FC Sochaux forward Charlie Davies jogs during a training session. (March 23, 2010) Credit: AP
The World Cup aspirations of Charlie Davies ended Tuesday when American head coach Bob Bradley named his preliminary roster for the 2010 World Cup. Davies, who has been vigorously rehabilitating several injuries sustained in an October car crash that took the life of another passenger, was not among the 30 players on the list. The Boston College product had resumed full training with his French club, Sochaux, but had received medical clearance to join the United States at training camp next week in Princton, N.J.
“Charlie has shown incredible heart and determination to reach this point in his recovery," Bradley said. "Given [his] status and our own evaluation of his progress, we feel it is Charlie’s best interest to continue his rehabilitation and focus on getting fully prepared to resume his professional and international career.”
In his place, five forwards will be fighting for a coveted final roster spot alongside striker Jozy Altidore on the front line. Edson Buddle (Los Angeles), Brian Ching (Houston), Robbie Findley (Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Puebla, Mexico), Eddie Johnson (Aris, Greece) will all attend next week's camp. Presumably, Findley stepped in to take Davies' spot when the decision was made to leave him off the team. Findley did not have an impressive showing with the U.S. squad earlier this year and is a longshot for the 23-man roster.
The other four comprises two veterans in Ching and Johnson and two red-hot goal-scorers in Gomez and Buddle. At least one of those four likely won't make the roster, given the fact that veteran midfielders Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan could and should feature at forward at some point during the tournament. Johnson, who has scored three goals in three playoff games for his Greek club, has the biggest hill climb at this point.
Other than Davies, there weren't any shocking omissions among the other 30 players.
The complete roster includes:
Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton, England), Tim Howard (Everton, England).
Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes, France), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Jay DeMerit (Watford, England), Clarence Goodson (IK Start, Norway), Chad Marshall (Columbus), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan, Italy), Heath Pearce (Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England).
Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Alejandro Bedoya (Orebro, Sweden), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt, Germany), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus, Denmark), Stuart Holden (Bolton, England), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Robbie Rogers (Columbus), Jose Torres (Pachuca, Mexico).
Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Hull, England), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles), Brian Ching (Houston), Robbie Findley (Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Puebla, Mexico), Eddie Johnson (Aris, Greece).
Photo credit: AP
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