Charlie Davies' Long Road Back to Stardom

It was October 13, 2009 and Charlie Davies got into a car with two women he didn't know. He had been out on the town in Washington, D.C. and it was 3 a.m. He clicked his seatbelt and the car took off. Somehow, the car careened into a guardrail and split in half somewhere on the George Washington Parkway. Davies should have died in the accident; the other passenger in the car died. Instead, he woke up in a hospital bed with 36 staples in his abdomen, a broken tibia and femur, a fractured elbow, a lacerated bladder, a smashed-in face, and bleeding on the brain.

At the time, Davies was being scouted by English Premier League giants Arsenal and Tottenham. He had just secured a transfer to Ligue 1 side Sochaux. He helped the USMNT beat the mighty Spanish National Team that had just won the Euros the year before and was undefeated in 35 matches at the Confederations Cup. A few days before the accident, the U.S. had officially qualified for the World Cup with a 3-2 defeat of Honduras. Davies was a lock to make Bob Bradley's squad in the summer. Now, all of a sudden, he was a survivor who had to relearn the basic elements of his life: how to walk, how to dress himself, how to eat, how to talk. His body was filled with metal required to repair his body. He did it quickly. He managed to return to training with his club in April. He thought he'd make a full recovery in time to make Bradley's squad and get on the plane to South Africa. It didn't happen.

Davies has been chasing the opportunities taken from him ever since.

Davies grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire, the state's largest city. He was the oldest of two boys and the family-stabilizing figure. His mother suffered from mental illness issues while his father struggled with drug addiction.

"I've always had to kind of be the father, the mother, and the brother in my family growing up," Davies says.

The forward, now 28, excelled on the soccer field and became a MLS fan. In 2002, Davies was able to watch the New England Revolution make it to their first MLS Cup. No one expected them to make it to the finals. But, behind Taylor Twellman's 23 goals and Adin Brown's remarkable performance in goal, the Revolution defied the odds and faced off against the Los Angeles Galaxy in the finals at Gillette Stadium. Davies watched from his room at Brooks Academy, which he shared with Brown's younger brother. The Revolution ended up losing,1-0, thanks to a Carlos Ruiz goal in the 113th minute .

"I remember how heartbreaking it was to see the Revolution lose to the Galaxy like that," Davies says.

After graduating from Boston College, where he met his future wife, Davies decided to try and play in Europe. He signed with Hammarby in Sweden and ended up getting his first call-up to the national team in June 2007. Next came the Confederations Cup, where he was one of the most heavily scouted young players of the tournament. Then came the accident and recovery. It's been an up and down battle for him since. Now, finally, he feels like he's back to being normal, back to being that cocky American forward who hit the Stanky Leg with his teammates and had the world at his feet in 2009.

"I think there was always a question if I could even get to the level I'm at now and now I feel like I can get to the next level," Davies says.

Red Bull Arena was loud. The overhang protecting the fans from the elements also held the noise inside the 25,000 seat stadium. It was August 2 and Charlie Davies was getting his third start in four games for the Revolution. New England hadn't won at Red Bull Arena since it opened in 2010. Davies looked determined to change that.

For the goal, Davies pulled away from his markers with a well-timed run. Teal Bunbury crossed into the box and the ball deflected off a Red Bulls defender and fell to Davies at the back post. He calmly headed the shot past the goalkeeper.

It had been three years since Charlie Davies scored a goal in Major League Soccer—he was playing for D.C. United then. He had just begun making his way back from the injuries he suffered in the fatal car accident that almost took his life. Those goals for D.C. United in 2011—there were 11 of them—pointed toward a second-coming of sorts for Davies, but they weren't the kinds of goals he was scoring before the accident. They certainly weren't reminiscent of the the goal he scored on August 12, 2009 against Mexico at Estadio Azteca—one of the world's most daunting stadiums for visiting teams. The U.S. Men's National Team lost 2-1 that day, but Davies looked like the future of the squad.

The goal against New York felt like it could have been played by the Davies who ran around Azteca. He finally showed the burst of pace to get in behind the defense. He finally showed that killer instinct to pull away from defenders and find where the ball was headed before anyone else even had an idea. His body looked like it could hold up for 90 minutes again. The Revolution were in the midst of a nine-game losing streak and lost, 2-1, that day, but Davies looked about as close to his old self as he could.

Four months later, Davies helped bring the Revolution into the Eastern Conference Finals against the Red Bulls. There was no stopping him.

Davies led the line as the Revolution's lone striker against New York's two giant center backs, Jámison Olave and Ibrahim Sekagya, over the two legs. His runs in behind and ability to occupy the two center backs were integral in helping the Revs end their curse at Red Bull Arena with a 2-1 win in the first game of the home-and-home series. Then he went on to score the two decisive goals in the series' second-leg at home, a 2-2 draw, before a record crowd of more than 32,000 fans at Gillette Stadium.

Now Davies is leading the Revolution against the Galaxy in the MLS Cup Finals—the same team that broke his heart when he was a kid watching the Revolution in New Hampshire—and Davies looks like he might just have enough in him to keep on leading the line for at least one more game.

In 2011 Davies watched the MLS Cup from the stands of the StubHub Center in LA with some of his D.C. United teammates. The Galaxy were a dynamic squad that featured Landon Donovan, David Beckham, and Robbie Keane, and they walked past the Houston Dynamo for the franchise's third MLS Cup. At the time, Davies thought, "Man, what an atmosphere, what an environment, what a great stage to play at."

Three years later, Davies himself will be taking the field at the StubHub Center on Sunday.

"To be in an MLS Cup final and be a player that is counted on to help a team win, especially after everything I've been through the past five years, means a whole lot to me," Davies says. "This will probably be the most special game in my career, for me personally because of everything I've had to deal with—so much pain and so many tears over the past five years, just a culmination of all the hard work I've put in and all the sweat and blood.

"It's a time where I can sit back and go, I'm so appreciative of the chance to play in an MLS Cup final."