Bob Bradley understands Charlie Davies' anger at being left off the preliminary U.S. World Cup roster.
Davies pushed himself to rehabilitate from a near-fatal car crash last October with the goal of returning for the World Cup. Bradley said last week that the 23-year-old forward's French club, Sochaux, hadn't given medical clearance to join the national team.
Speaking following the first U.S. training session Monday, Bradley said that was just a part of it, and that he also included the evaluation of U.S. Soccer Federation medical staff and his own eyes.
``We talked throughout the process with their coaches. We knew exactly what it looked like in training,'' he said. ``I saw a video of training, and so we put it all together. We recognize that Charlie has put - up until now and will need to continue to put - a tremendous amount of work into his rehab, and we're all supporting him.''
Davies said last week he felt ``very hurt, very sad'' and ``very angry.'' He maintained he was ready to play, even though he hasn't appeared in a match since before the accident on Oct. 13. He said he felt let down by Sochaux.
``There's a lot of emotion at that time,'' Bradley said. ``From right after the accident until now, you know, he put all his energy and emotion into his rehab, and he did it, you know, with an obvious timetable.''
Bradley shared a conversation he had with Davies in February, saying he felt as if he were a father or an older brother. He had been aware of all the favorable accounts Davies had been giving of his rehabilitation during interviews and on his Twitter account.
``I told him that I felt that if he could keep his attitude, his mentality, his work ethic, that that was going to be very important.'' he said. ``But I also said if you can find a way to work and put everything into it and maybe not have so much to say, I think it would work for you. Because you don't want to put yourself in a position that you're making all this progress and yet somehow it seems like a failure because the timing just doesn't coincide with the World Cup. What's most important is that you can still get yourself back to the level that you were playing before the accident.''
Davies' next chance to play for the national team is a probable exhibition game on Aug. 11, four days after the start of the French Ligue 1 season. After that, the next tournament for the U.S. is the CONCACAF Gold Cup in June 2011.
Bradley hopes Davies ``got his emotion out'' so that ``he can continue to move forward.''
``The guys on the team, his friends, are right there behind him,'' he said.
