Davis became an integral part of the U.S. national team in 1977, first with the U.S. Olympic team and U20 teams, then the senior national team. Between September 11 and October 4, 1976, the U.S. U-20 national team played the qualifying games for the
1977 FIFA World U-20 Championship. While the team went 5–2, it failed to qualify. Davis led the team scoring with eight goals. When he was 18 years old, he made his senior national team debut in a September 15, 1977 match against
El Salvador. Even more, he scored his first international goal in that game. He became a regular on the team, playing in all eight U.S. matches in 1977. Davis continued to play for the Olympic team, which qualified for the
1980 Summer Olympics. However, President
Carter's
boycott of those games, held in
Moscow, stopped the team from competing. Davis played for the U.S. in the
1984 Olympics, where he scored two goals in the U.S. victory over
Costa Rica. In 1984, he was also named the
U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year, the first year of the award. He played again at the
1988 Summer Olympics. Davis' experience and leadership led him to being named captain of the U.S. national team. In this capacity, he led the team during 1988, and was looking forward to the
1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying games in 1989. However, he suffered a serious knee injury in January 1989. Although he tried to work himself back into shape in order to make the World Cup roster, U.S. coach
Bob Gansler never called him back to the team, and Davis retired from playing. Overall, he earned 36
caps (a record at the time), scoring nine goals for the senior national team.
International Goals ==Team management==