Sporting Kansas City’s Jake Davis returns from the Olympics with a fresh mindset
On Monday night, Children’s Mercy Park opened its gates, Sporting KC took the field and — after an at-times frustrating 90-minute battle — Toluca FC took over that field with a 2-1 win.
But at least Jake Davis was home.
In July, the 22-year-old Sporting defender was selected for the U-23 U.S. Men’s National Team’s Olympic squad as an alternate, meaning he wasn’t quite part of the 18-man roster but could’ve been called upon in the event of an injury on the main squad.
That was Davis’ first Olympic call-up at the senior level.
Davis joined the team in Paris for a little over a week this month until a 4-1 defeat to Morocco in the quarterfinals last Friday. Though Davis didn’t get any minutes on the field, it didn’t mean he was there to stay stagnant.
“I’m not going there to be comfortable like, ‘I made it,’” Davis previously told the Star.
He seemed to have held himself to it. Davis recalled being “proactive” in terms of improving both himself and his teammates on the national squad.
“I don’t think I was frustrated,” Davis said of his alternate status. “I was there, I knew my role and I worked as hard as I could to understand them to make sure that I was being the best teammate for those guys.”
Then, it was back from country to club.
After making the approximately 12-hour flight from Paris to Kansas City a few days ago, Davis trained again with Sporting on Sunday with his eyes fixed on the gameday squad.
He got what he wanted.
Just before halftime, Davis subbed on for midfielder Nemanja Radoja in the 44th minute. Perhaps it was a good omen. A minute later, Stephen Afrifa launched what looked like a missed shot until the ball caught the bottom of the crossbar, crossed the goal line and hit the net for the equalizer.
Despite last night’s rocky re-entry, Davis brings a post-Olympic perspective that he hopes will come to the forefront in Sporting’s next matches — particularly its first Leagues Cup Round of 32 match against the Columbus Crew on Friday.
“I’m honored to be a part of (the national) team, to get to know the guys, to get to know the staff members of the United States,” Davis said. “It also means an upgraded mindset to come back for our season.”
In the meantime, for Davis, it’s good to be home.
“I think I may be the first guy who’s ever been to Europe, who’s ever been to Paris, to miss Kansas City,” Davis said.
