Even before Clint Dempsey plopped to the ground Sunday the United States was already nearing The Tipping Point.

Charlie Davies is recovering from a shattered leg; Oguchi Onyewu is trying to rush back from a patellar tendon rapture (his knee is fucked up); Jermaine Jones might never recover from his broken leg; Jozy Altidore can't score a goal in the English Premier League; Carlos Bocanegra is stuck on the Stade Rennes' bench; DaMarcus Beasley started playing well for the first time in years before tearing his hamstring.

Last season, when news broke out that Cristiano Ronaldo was leaving Old Trafford, Nani tipped himself as the man to fill the void left by the great no.7. But any chance of doing that has faded away. He is probably United fifth choice winger behind Valencia, Giggs, Obertan and Park. Don't be surprised if he is out of the door come summer time.

Manchester City's Carlos Tevez has branded Manchester United's Gary Neville a "boot-licker" and a "moron" in explaining his goal celebration in Tuesday's Carling Cup semi-final Former Manchester United striker Tevez gestured and cupped his ears towards the United bench after scoring twice in Manchester City's 2-1 derby win.

Last I left you, DC United had finally announced their new head coach, Curt Onalfo, and we were all wondering what moves would be made, and what moves should be made. Well, some of those moves have occurred and they should be discussed.

Christian Castillo, left winger on the El Salvador Men's National team and bench warmer on Leon, in Mexico joins DC on loan.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

The much-rumored Freddy Adu move to Greece is now official. An 18-month loan deal has been agreed upon between Aris FC and Benfica, and Adu will join fellow American Eddie Johnson at the Greek club.

According to the club's official site (and Adu's Twitter page), Adu will join up through June 2011, with the club retaining an option to buy the attacker from Benfica.

photo by ISIphotos.com

If you were closely following Wednesday's proceedings of the upcoming MLS Draft, you may have missed two former MLS standouts seeing the field for their clubs.

NQ Fury coach Ferguson asked Robbie Fowler to start on the bench tonight against Brisbane. Instead Fowler decided to make himself unavailable to play.
Currently he is siting watching the game from the stands.
Earlier this week it was reported that his wife is not happy in Townsville.

As Leeds United celebrated one of the great victories in the FA Cup's modern era by defeating Manchester United, 1-0, in the 3rd round, there was an American smiling from ear to ear on the field at Old Trafford.
Mike Grella, the US youth international and former Duke University standout, did not appear for Leeds today, but he was one of the first members on the bench to sprint out onto the field to help celebrate the victory.

Mull mull mull...

What a good samaritan Juan Sebastion Veron is. It is alleged that the ex-Man Utd, Chelsea and Inter star had initially turned down a £7 million move to Man City earlier in the week but has been forced to reassess his snub because the fee involved is so high it would pay for a new stadium for his current club Estudiantes.

Nicklas Bendtner made his long awaited comeback in an Arsenal shirt yesterday evening at Villa Park.It had been 3 months since the Dane last kicked a ball for the Gunners & the Arsenal fans we're delighted to see him back with " super, super nick" ringing around the away end of the ground.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has shrugged aside any doubt over the immediate future of Ryan Babel, who has been widely tipped for a winter transfer.
The 22-year-old attacker has found first-team opportunities hard to come by at Anfield, having shown only glimpses of the raw talent that earned him an £11.

You can read a review of the latest installment of the Old Firm battle between Rangers and Celtic by clicking here. Maurice Edu came on as an early substitute for Nacho Novo, but DaMarcus Beasley wasn't even on the bench so he must not have been fit enough.

Brad Guzan did it again, stopping a penalty kick by David Dunn in Aston Villa's 4-1 win over Blackburn Rovers in the third round of the English FA Cup on Saturday.
Guzan's stop in the 31st minute kept Villa head and followed five penalty saves, including four in the shootout, against Sunderland in the League Cup earlier in the season.

Clint Dempsey has been having a great year for Fulham. He has 6 goals on the season and his contributions have earned him a starting role for most the season as he has been a force for the Cottagers. However, today was not one of those days as the US National Team player started out on the bench. But it was evident to Roy Hodgson, after going down 3-0 to Stoke City that they needed Dempsey back in the line up.

Two questions for you to mull over...

1. Which players have scored the most headers since the inception of the Premier League? We want the top six.

2. Which nine players have reached double figures coming off the bench (goalswise) since the inception of the Premier League?

Answers on a post card please.

The next four months are the biggest in Liverpool's history.
The implications if we don't get into the Champions League are massive.
If we don't finish in the top four it will be very difficult to attract top players and we might struggle to hold on to our key stars.
This really is a pivotal time for the club.

Young French striker is NOT the next Thierry Henry
He's young and raw, but has looked lively in recent weeks and with Fernando Torres out injured, he gets the nod as our Funny Feeling Friday this weekend.
David N'Gog is a budget option (5.2M) and could get two starts this week with Torres out.

A trip to Goodison Park is a game that has been labelled by some as Roberto Mancini's first 'real test', following a run of games thought of as easing the Italian into the role.
Fixtures against Everton are not ones we have yielded a great amount of success from in recent times, and tomorrow's game is played with Tuesday's sem-final looming large.

Reading goalkeeper Adam Federici has pledged his immediate future to the Royals after reports linked him with a move to Liverpool.
The Australian goalkeeper impressed in both FA Cup games against the Premier League side but Federici is adamant his future lies at Madejski Stadium.
"I have worked so hard to be number one, why would I want to go up there, sit on the bench and start over?

After last night's disappointing performance against Wolves, the question must be asked.
Why wasn't Aquilani playing?
The little Italian had begun to find his feet in a Liverpool shirt, using the ball well, making things happen in the middle of the pitch, showing lots of neat touches and he set up the goal by Kuyt after 5 minutes against Spurs.

At the start of the season, an away trip to newly promoted Birmingham City would be viewed as no great challenge, but the form of Alex McLeish's team means that they must be treated as a very serious threat.

Their midweek defeat to Chelsea brought an end to an unbeaten run stretching back 15 games.

An interesting story coming from Alex McLeish today:

"City will take Joe Hart back at the end of the season," said the Birmingham manager. "There is no chance of us signing him in January. We asked the question and they said that won't happen. We never had an option from City to buy him.

Roberto Mancini has stressed the importance of this game and to avoid looking ahead to the Carling Cup semi-final next week, and if we put some form together over the second half of the season in our pursuit of a top four spot, we could well have some success in this years FA Cup tournament as a result.

Fran Merida, Jack Wilshere and Carlos Vela all start at Upton Park in this evening's FA Cup 3rd round tie with West Ham. The fringe trio are accompanied by experienced players such as Alex Song and Eduardo, while a strong defence which consists of Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen and Silvestre also start.

As expected, Arsene made some changes to the starting line up. Interestingly, the defenders got no respite and I doubt if they will at any point this season. Vela, Wilshere and Merida were handed starts along with Silvestre and Fabianski.

Overall the team looked like it should win comfortably as the Hammers didn't really offer any genuine threat.

When I first started following Bath City I really struggled to figure out which player was which. This was not because I have some sort of problem recognising faces, but because I was confused by the numbering system on the player's shirts. To me there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it. One player would wear number 10 in one match and be in a 11 the next.

Copa Del Rey swings back to action with Sevilla's visit to Nou Camp tonight. FC barcelona will also be looking to put back their game back in track after a not so satisfactory draw against Villareal. FC Barcelona met SWevilla in the same competition two years ago and the Catalan outfit went through on away goal.

Good morning, the person who is in charge of providing existing players with new contracts has been a busy person this last little while.

Yesterday Tomas Rosicky became the 15th player since May to sign a new deal with the club. There's no talk of quite how long the deal is, there's certainly no mention of it being 'long term' like most of the others, but you have to imagine it's probably for the next couple of seasons with maybe an option to extend if things work out.

Nemanja Vidic pulled out of our match against Leeds United at the last minute, after picking up an injury in the warm up. This meant Antonio Valencia was drafted in at the last minute to go on the bench.

The press the following day was rather surprising though, with it becoming obsessed with Sir Alex Ferguson's post-match comments which were made directly after the game.

Sorenson, Hangeland and Shawcross all come into the match after being injury doubts though Wilkinson can only make the bench. He is joined there by former first team strikers Beattie and Fuller while Tuncay partners Sidibe on the pitch. Fulham also have Kelly in at right back in place of the injured Paintsil.

Clint Dempsey came off the bench to score a goal of a lifetime as Stoke edged Fulham while both Brads were left with cold feet as Aston Villa - Blackburn was postponed due to weather conditions.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

The much-rumored Freddy Adu move to Greece is now official. An 18-month loan deal has been agreed upon between Aris FC and Benfica, and Adu will join fellow American Eddie Johnson at the Greek club.

According to the club's official site (and Adu's Twitter page), Adu will join up through June 2011, with the club retaining an option to buy the attacker from Benfica.

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QPR Official Site - EXCLUSIVE: KEEPER ARRIVES
Paul Hart has swooped to bring Wolverhampton Wanderers goalkeeper Carl Ikeme to Loftus Road.
The 23 year-old stopper, who has already spent time on loan at Charlton Athletic and Sheffield United this season, has penned a loan deal until Sunday 31st January 2010.

With the transfer window officially open for business, each new day brings with it a spate of far-fetched player rumours. This week's jaw-dropper comes courtesy of The Times for suggesting that Real Madrid are on the verge of pouncing for Manchester United's Nemanja Vidic (as if Sir Alex is going to ditch his best defender when more than half his backline are in the treatment room!

Barcelona's quest to repeat their incredible feat of winning six titles this season seems to have taken a major knock when they were humbled by Sevilla 2-1 at the Nou Camp in their 1st leg tie of the last 16.

The Andalusians were the first to score on the stroke of the hour thanks to Diego Capel.

The first 4 minutes weren't what we we were expecting as we raced to a 2 goal lead. Great goals and team work. Defence let us down before half time.
Alex Brosque was nowhere in the squad. In the lead up it was Brosque, Brosque, Brosque - no need for him to worry about Sydney saying no to a Europe tour prep for World Cup.

Brisbane made the early running. And Van Dijk and Reinaldo both lacked composure to miss clear cut opportunities. To be fair to Ange, once Henrique did his hamstring he was going to be very reliant on returning Socceroos Matt McKay and Tommy Oar. McKay as new Roar Captain occasionally looked very good.

photo credit: William Holtkamp

Do you remember when Freddy Adu was a young teenager? Everyone in the states hoped the child prodigy would become the next MJ or Tiger Woods of soccer. In fact we watched him play against guys in the MLS that were twice his age.

But even back then it seemed that Mr.

Just in on a mid-season transfer, I am here to keep you entertained, informed and enforce your belief in the wonderment that is Arsenal. Failing this it could be a long haul of moaning about the weather and injuries sustained to key players. Most of which have happened while not even playing for the club but away on a pointless and mundane friendlies.

For me, Michael Owen has produced the two most special moments for Man Utd in the last few months. Firstly his hat trick against the German champions of Wolfsburg was excellent. Three very different goals that showed what he can do as the man that leads the line. His run from the half way line and cute finish was joyous to behold.