FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – With Charlie Davies it's about constant evolution. It’s the way he knows it has to be.
Now five years removed from a tragic car accident that nearly took his life, and with a few stops in between, Davies has found a comfort zone in New England and has helped the Revolution take a big step towards advancing to the Eastern Conference Championship. He scored twice in the 1st leg of New England's semifinal set vs. Columbus to become the first player in club history to have a multi-goal effort in the MLS Cup Playoffs, presented by AT&T.
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“It’s great to continue to progress,” said Davies, who will look to help the Revolution build on their 4-2 aggregate lead
on Sunday (5 pm ET; ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes)
. “The ultimate goal is to win. Whatever I’ve got to do to help the team win games, that’s the most important thing. As a striker, most of the time it’s scoring goals.
“With this formation that we play, a lot of times it's holding up the ball and stretching defenses and creating a lot of space for the other guys.”
Davies covered all of those bases last Saturday, garnering a large helping of confidence in the process. The biggest boost for the Revolution striker was his second goal, blasted off the post and in from 23 yards out.
It was his first goal scored from outside the box since the 2009 accident.
“A striker with confidence is a dangerous striker,” said Davies. “Hopefully I can continue to keep building on each performance.”
Keep building and keep celebrating. From “popping and locking” to doing the pop culture sensation “Shmoney Dance,” the evolution of Davies' celebrations may be just as impressive as his game.
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“The funny thing with that is I don’t really try to think about the celebrations before,” said Davies with a chuckle. “Whatever comes to mind, I think that’s the right way to do it. It’s good to just enjoy the moment and just kind of go with your gut.”
With moves like his, both on and off the ball, Davies has proven key to the Revolution’s success and his hope is that his continued progression results in more goals, and celebrations this postseason.
“My main goal is to continue to get better and we’re getting better as a team, which is scary,” said Davies. “We’re really hitting our stride at the right moment. The ultimate goal is to win MLS Cup and we’re taking the right steps to make that happen.”
Craig Forde covers the New England Revolution for MLSsoccer.com.
