Rare is the moment that one can bring quiet a capacity crowd of 100,000 people, but that’s exactly what Charlie Davies did when he opened the scoring in the USMNT’s visit to Azteca in 2009.
A nice build-up out of midfield led to Landon Donovan springing the 23-year-old in down the left. The striker turned on his jets, cut inside and curled a right-footed effort past Guillermo Ochoa to open the scoring in the ninth minute.
“It went from the loudest environment you could ever be in as a professional footballer, to silence,” Davies said recently. “I remember just looking up and I could hear the maybe 400 American fans that traveled on that day in the farthest corner of the stadium.”
Not one to miss his moment, the exuberant striker ran to the corner flag and used it as a microphone stand, playing a song in his own head as he danced in celebration.
It was a magical moment for Davies and the USMNT, but the lead was short-lived.
Ten minutes later, Israel Castro used the thin Azteca air to launch a rocked from 25 yards that beat Tim Howard and careened in off the underside of the crossbar. The U.S. hung tough through much of the match, but carried by the home crowd, Mexico broke through as Miguel Sabah fired home a close-range winner in the 82nd minute.
Despite the defeat, Davies’ ninth minute goal marked the first time the U.S. struck first at Azteca, providing a building block for future visits to Mexico City. For Davies, nothing in his career comes close to the time he scored at Azteca.
“That’s the moment that sticks out to me,” he added. “That’s the pinnacle of my career.”
