Charlie Davies Injured in Car Accident

U.S. men’s national team forward Charlie Davies was seriously injured in a car accident early Tuesday morning in Virginia. Davies spent more than three hours in surgery at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., according to a U.S. Soccer spokesman. Another person in the car was killed.

“Obviously, as a team we were saddened to learn this news,” Coach Bob Bradley said in a statement posted on the U.S. Soccer Web site. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Charlie and his family, as well as the people in the car and the families of the others involved. As a team, we are relying on each other in a moment that has for sure hit us all hard.”

Ashley J. Roberta, 22, of Phoenix, Md., was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash on the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Arlington, Va. Another woman traveling in the car was taken to Washington Hospital Center for treatment after their car struck a metal guardrail on a stretch of road between the Memorial Bridge and the Pentagon around 3:15 a.m., said Sgt. David Schlosser, a spokesman for the United States park police.

It was unclear who was driving the car, but Michael Kammarman, a U.S. Soccer spokesman, said no other members of the American team or staff were involved. Davies’s parents were en route to Washington from San Diego.
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Charlie Davies, who is in Washington with the United States team for its final World Cup qualifying match Wednesday against Costa Rica, has become a featured striker for Coach Bradley after standout performances this year. Charlie Davies played 78 minutes in the team’s 3-2 victory over Honduras in San Pedro Sula on Saturday. With that victory, the Americans clinched a spot in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa next summer.

In June, Charlie Davies drew praise for his breakout performance at the Confederations Cup in South Africa, where Charlie Davies scored one goal and provided an attacking spark to the United States lineup against world powers Spain and Brazil.

After the tournament, Charlie Davies earned a transfer from Hammarby, in Sweden, where he had played since 2007, to F.C. Sochaux in France’s Ligue 1.