FanHouse Charlie Davies

Already rendered anticlimactic by last Saturday's clinching victory in Honduras, Wednesday night's World Cup qualifier between the United States against Costa Rica in Washington now will be played in the shadow of the car accident that claimed the life of a Maryland woman and likely cost forward Charlie Davies the opportunity to play in next summer's tournament.

The game means everything, however, to both the visitors and Honduras, which trails Costa Rica by two points for the region's final automatic berth. For that reason, and because of the "great deal of pride in the ongoing competition to be the best team in CONCACAF," according to U.S. coach Bob Bradley, the Americans claimed they will play to win on Wednesday night (8 PM ET, ESPN2).

U.S. national team forward Charlie Davies will be hospitalized "for at least a week" following surgery to repair numerous fractures and a lacerated bladder suffered in a one-car accident early Tuesday morning in Arlington, Va.

A federation doctor said that "injuries of this nature usually require a recovery period of 6-12 months and extensive rehabilitation," making it likely that the 23-year-old will miss next summer's World Cup.

A 22-year-old Maryland woman was killed in the crash, which occurred at around 3:15 AM. The identity and condition of the third passenger still hasn't been released, and the relationship between the pair and Davies is unclear. The NBC affiliate in Washington posted pictures of the mangled SUV on its Web site, while The Washington Post's Steven Goff reported that Davies was indeed in violation of a national team curfew.

The U.S. national team's World Cup qualifying celebration took a very somber turn on Tuesday morning when it learned that Charlie Davies, the Boston College product who has established himself as a first-choice forward this year, was involved in a serious car accident near the team's Arlington, Va., hotel.

He was in surgery throughout the afternoon for injuries that U.S. Soccer described as "serious" but "not life-threatening." Davies reportedly was one of three people involved in the single-car accident, which killed 22-year-old Ashley J. Roberta. It was unclear whether Davies was the driver or a passenger, or whether he had permission to be out when the crash occurred at about 3 AM ET.

It's only a small sample size, but it's starting to look like some members of the U.S. national team were cursed following Wednesday's 2-1 defeat to Mexico at the Azteca Stadium. Landon Donovan revealed last week he played the match with the H1N1 virus and over the weekend Tim Howard was in goal while Everton were thrashed 6-1 by Arsenal in the Premier League season opener.

We can safely say Charlie Davies didn't suffer from any post-Mexico hangover, even if on the mun2 English broadcast Marcelo Balboa repeatedly pronounced his name "Davis" during the telecast. In fact, the former Boston College standout carried his sizzling form into the weekend with his new club in France -- Sochaux -- were he scored twice in a second half loss to reigning Ligue 1 champions Bordeaux, 3-2.

MEXICO CITY -- When Miguel Sabah scored his game-winning goal in the 82nd minute, or the 83rd, or the 84th -- nobody was really quite sure -- it rained beer at Estadio Azteca. The suds were accompanied by thunder, a roar from more than 100,000 delirous fans, two of whom turned toward the American press sitting a few rows behind them and screamed obscenities. The one with the hair gel and popped green collar made exaggerated typing gestures, while his classy friend with the face paint simply flipped us the bird.

Welcome to the world's most inhospitable stadium, which proved too much for the media, the Panamanian referee and the U.S. national team (again) in Wednesday's World Cup qualifier. "It's hard to play here," Landon Donovan said. "It wears you out. It's just exhausting."

The trickle down effect of the U.S. national team's run to last month's Confederations Cup final is coming into fruition this week. First we saw defender Oguchi Onyewu ink a deal with AC Milan and now it appears that young forward Charlie Davies is on to bigger and better things with a possible move to Sochaux of France's Ligue 1, as reported by the French sports daily L'Equipe.

Probably more than any other player on the American roster, Davies broke out during the two weeks in South Africa thanks to his blinding speed. The New Hampshire native has carried that form into July's CONCACAF Gold Cup, scoring a goal and pacing the attack in Saturday's 4-0 stomping of Grenada as well as playing off a perfect lay off to Santino Quaranta for the U.S.'s first goal in a 2-0 win over Honduras Wednesday night.

SEATTLE (AP) -- Playing without its top stars, there was some concern that the United States would struggle to generate offense during the heading CONCACAF Gold Cup. That doesn't look like a problem anymore.

The Americans, fresh off a stunning runner-up finish at the FIFA Confederations Cup, thoroughly dominated Grenada, 4-0 on Saturday night, as they began their quest for a third straight Gold Cup title.

When the U.S. Soccer Federation announced the roster for the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup in the midst of the U.S.'s surprising run to the Confederations Cup final, the general consensus was that the lineup was thoroughly a "B" team. After all, the supposed "A" team had done enough work in upsetting then-FIFA No. 1 Spain, and giving newly minted top dog Brazil a run for its money, before losing 3-2 last week.

On Wednesday, CONCACAF said it would allow the U.S. to add seven players to the already 23-man roster for the Gold Cup due to playing in back-to-back competitions barely separated by a week and, more importantly, over 10,000 miles. Thursday the USSF announced those seven players -- all members of the Confederations Cup roster -- upgrading the roster to a solid "B+."