FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It’s been a long haul for Charlie Davies.
The New England Revolution forward has been through the muck and back and is now standing tall, heading an attack that very much needed the shot in the arm he's provided this month.
For Davies, who has now started at the Revs' lone striker spot in four of the team's last five games, the road to get to this point has been paved with positivity and a determination to make it happen.
“Finally, I feel like I’m in a place where I can have success,” Davies told MLSsoccer.com. “It’s great because I’ve always felt like I’m getting better. There’s never been a point where I felt like I need some more time or I’m going to be static and play the same and I’m not going to get better.”
Since coming to New England last August, Davies has had to deal with a myriad of issues, from learning how to play in a new system to playing and learning a new position to dealing with numerous injuries that seemed to consistently set him back.
Early in the 2014 campaign, after working back from a preseason calf injury, Davies made three appearances from off the bench providing a speedy change of pace late in games, but then went unused in 10 straight matches.
“He had some hard times in terms of breaking into the lineup and into the team,” said coach Jay Heaps. “Right when he was starting to getting closer, he got hurt again. This time around, I think we were in a situation where we wanted to get him a start.”
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Davies made his first start on July 19 versus Dallas, did not play the next match, but then reappeared in the starting XI against Colorado two weeks later, displaying excellent hold-up work and playmaking as he fed Lee Nguyen for the team’s first goal.
In the next two matches, Davies took the scoring responsibility onto his own feet, giving the Revs early leads and giving himself a hunger for more.
“I’m extremely hungry,” said Davies. “For me, it’s all the joy in the world when you can put the ball in the back of the net. This is why I play the game. It’s one of those things where you just have to take it game by game and try and build on it.”
