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ARLINGTON, Va. -
U.S. coach Bob Bradley delivered the somber news about midfielder Charlie Davies' accident to his players in a meeting room in the team hotel just before lunch Tuesday. An hour or so later, in the same room, the news was told to the rest of the world.
With the outcome of Davies' surgery uncertain at the time, there was a pause as the room took a collective breath. Then came questions about the reason the team had come to the nation's capital. There is still a game to be played, and the Americans still want to win.
Its berth in next year's World Cup in South Africa already secured, the U.S. team completes its qualifying schedule tonight against Costa Rica at RFK Stadium in Washington. For the Americans, the game is overshadowed by the latest word on Davis, who was in serious condition Tuesday night after lengthy surgery following a one-vehicle accident early Tuesday on the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Ashley J. Roberta, 22, of Phoenix was killed in the accident.
"We are relying on each other in a moment that has for sure hit us all hard," Bradley said.
Even though the U.S. trip to South Africa was clinched with Saturday's 3-2 win at Honduras, tonight's game won't necessarily have the feel of an anticlimactic friendly. The United States (6-2-1) wants to finish first in North and Central American and Caribbean qualifying for the second straight time ahead of rival Mexico (6-3), which closes at Trinidad and Tobago (1-6-2).
While the U.S. has qualified, Costa Rica needs to win to ensure the region's third and final automatic World Cup spot. The Ticos (5-4) are third with 15 points, two ahead of Honduras (4-4-1), which plays at already-eliminated El Salvador (2-5-2). The fourth-place team goes to a home-and-home playoff next month against the No. 5 finisher in South America: Uruguay, Ecuador or Argentina.
"It's not really fair for us to go out there and not give our best effort," U.S. captain Carlos Bocanegra said, "because if we were in the reverse situation, I think we'd be pretty angry at the other team."
Midfielder Landon Donovan pointed to bigger goals.
"We realize if we want to be ultimately successful in South Africa, we still have some work to do," Donovan said. "And so now the emphasis turns to preparing yourself for South Africa, and obviously a big part of that will be the draw in December, whereas the last month it was qualifying and getting there. Now it's, 'OK, we're there.' And now it's, 'How do we put ourselves in a position to be successful once we get there?' "
Still, Bocanegra conceded there was "loads of pressure" off now that the World Cup berth is in hand.
"Now we can go out there and just play and go for a win," Bocanegra said.
With the outcome of Davies' surgery uncertain at the time, there was a pause as the room took a collective breath. Then came questions about the reason the team had come to the nation's capital. There is still a game to be played, and the Americans still want to win.
Its berth in next year's World Cup in South Africa already secured, the U.S. team completes its qualifying schedule tonight against Costa Rica at RFK Stadium in Washington. For the Americans, the game is overshadowed by the latest word on Davis, who was in serious condition Tuesday night after lengthy surgery following a one-vehicle accident early Tuesday on the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Ashley J. Roberta, 22, of Phoenix was killed in the accident.
"We are relying on each other in a moment that has for sure hit us all hard," Bradley said.
Even though the U.S. trip to South Africa was clinched with Saturday's 3-2 win at Honduras, tonight's game won't necessarily have the feel of an anticlimactic friendly. The United States (6-2-1) wants to finish first in North and Central American and Caribbean qualifying for the second straight time ahead of rival Mexico (6-3), which closes at Trinidad and Tobago (1-6-2).
While the U.S. has qualified, Costa Rica needs to win to ensure the region's third and final automatic World Cup spot. The Ticos (5-4) are third with 15 points, two ahead of Honduras (4-4-1), which plays at already-eliminated El Salvador (2-5-2). The fourth-place team goes to a home-and-home playoff next month against the No. 5 finisher in South America: Uruguay, Ecuador or Argentina.
"It's not really fair for us to go out there and not give our best effort," U.S. captain Carlos Bocanegra said, "because if we were in the reverse situation, I think we'd be pretty angry at the other team."
Midfielder Landon Donovan pointed to bigger goals.
"We realize if we want to be ultimately successful in South Africa, we still have some work to do," Donovan said. "And so now the emphasis turns to preparing yourself for South Africa, and obviously a big part of that will be the draw in December, whereas the last month it was qualifying and getting there. Now it's, 'OK, we're there.' And now it's, 'How do we put ourselves in a position to be successful once we get there?' "
Still, Bocanegra conceded there was "loads of pressure" off now that the World Cup berth is in hand.
"Now we can go out there and just play and go for a win," Bocanegra said.
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Unfortunately the sun did intentionally omit details concerning Ashley. Fact-last eve. at 9pm, Ashley was mentioned in the article as the person who lost life in this accident. In the current version of the article that carries the tag line "Balto. Co. woman killed, national team soccer player hurt in crash" and is linked in the Maryland News section, no mention of her is contained. The sun edited her out. If the sun was respecting the families wishes they would change the tag line and location to eliminate any reference to Ashley by taking the link out of the Maryland section and the reference to Balto. Co. woman killed. Now people who turn to the sun as their source for local news who may have heard about this and want to know more are clicking on the link and finding nothing about her. Is it malicious? Of course not. Is it insensitive and sloppy journalism? I will let the reader judge.
baltomoreon (10/14/2009, 4:04 PM )