Of all the reports recently surfacing regarding Charlie Davies’ chances at making the World Cup, Tuesday’s story published France’s national news agency has created the biggest stir.
FIFA.com and SkySports.com ran parts of the English translation of the story, first published by Agence France Presse (AFP), under the headlines “Davies Loses Fitness Battle.”
Watch: Exclusive interview with Charlie Davies
On Thursday the reporter behind the article, Rémy Zaka, defended his reporting to MLSsoccer.com and offered some more insight into what his sources at Sochaux shared with him.
“It could be that he will not ready,” Zaka said of Davies and the World Cup. “A source explained to me that it could be that he will not be ready, because there are certain movements he still can’t do, and he [the source] is afraid that a month is too short for Davies to learn how to do them.”
Although he would not name his source, Zaka confirmed that the person was a member of the Sochaux medical staff.
Zaka stressed that his original piece was written in the conditional tense and that there could have been problems with the translation to English. While he affirms that he never reported that Davies is certain to miss out on the World Cup, Zaka said his report indicated that it is still a possibility that he will not be there.
He said that despite the encouraging progress made by the American forward, the reporter was told that even if Davies is selected for the tournament, he would not be at a level to play in the World Cup and that he would most likely only watch from the sidelines.
Zaka added that he was prompted to dig into the story after watching a television segment last weekend in which Sochaux’s president stated that one month is too short a period for Davies to be ready for the World Cup.
“In that program they actually said that he [Davies] had a problem with his arm,” Zaka said.
Although he didn’t include his opinion as part of his AFP story, Zaka said that he believes the medical staff and president have made these statements for a reason.
“This was more for him [Davies] not to get discouraged [at not being called up],” he said. “That’s my sentiment, that’s the impression I had.”
Zaka made it a point to clarify that he was not responsible for the way other outlets chose to report the AFP story.
“I am absolutely not a doctor and I’m not by his side everyday to see where he’s at,” Zaka said. “I only report what I’ve been told, and the person I spoke to said that as of today we can’t say anything definitive that he will or won’t be able to [make the World Cup].”
