Charlie Davies Has A Mutant Healing Factor, Gnarliest Scar Ever

U.S. striker Charlie Davies is not only jogging again but talking seriously about playing in the World Cup, an incredible bit of news when you remember that, four months ago, he was in a single-car accident that looked like this.

The accident in October killed one passenger, Ashley Roberta, and left Davies with an assortment of injuries that many figured would require a year of recovery and several more months of rehabilitation. But ESPN The Soccernet's Ives Galarcep reports that Davies is already out of his wheelchair and training:

Just how amazing? The multiple broken bones in his leg, face and elbow have healed. So has a torn posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, and he has recovered from bladder surgery, which left a foot-long scar on his stomach. He has regained the 15 pounds he lost after enduring six surgeries following the crash, and is days away from undergoing his final surgery associated with the accident, a procedure to remove a bone, plate and screws from his left elbow. After a week to recover from that surgery, Davies expects to be back training with Sochaux by the end of February.

"The World Cup is easy for me to be back for," said Davies. "I want to get back to France, and I don't want to just get back — I want to be good."

The facial swelling has subsided, and Davies is starting to look more or less like he used to — with the exception of a scar that runs from ear to ear across the top of his skull. I'll let Galarcep describe it:

That scar came after doctors peeled his face off down to his chin in order to repair the multiple fractures that left his facial bones a shattered mess.

A scar from where the doctors peeled off his face. Good lord. Should Davies return in time for the World Cup, I think it speaks well to our country's chances that we'll have a striker who moonlights as a member of the X-Men.

Davies on remarkable path to recovery [ESPNsoccernet]