The US team was hit with a major set-back as they prepared for their Concacaf WCQ match against Costa Rica. You might be able to guess what the event was, but just in case, US forward Charlie Davies was seriously injured in a car crash on Tuesday morning, in an accident that left one person dead.

The accident happened in the Washington DC area and it was reported that the player would need about 5 hours of surgery and U.S. Soccer Federation spokesman Neil Buethe said that Davies' injuries were not life-threatening but "possibly" career-threatening.

The news and fall-out from this tragedy are likely to shock and rock the US camp, especially seeing as Davies was part of the team that beat Honduras the other day, clinching the national side's place in the 2010 World Cup. Now he might not even play soccer again...chilling stuff.

Just to provide some more details that have been coming out, the Washington Post reported that Davies was breaking a team curfew at the time he was involved in the accident in which 22-year old Ashley J. Roberta was killed. His car was apparently "split in half" as a result of the accident, but I am hoping that the player will make a speedy recovery and hopefully, get back to playing soccer as soon as possible.

                                   
But what's the deal with soccer players and car crashes? Cristiano Ronaldo was lucky to escape from his unharmed, but another player died not too long ago. Columbian soccer player Hernan Cordoba and his Atletico Huila teammate Mario Beltran were both killed in September in a car crash.