Let's be completely honest here: we got ahead of ourselves when it came to the recovery of Charlie Davies. Charlie Davies got ahead of himself when it came to the recovery of Charlie Davies. All the faith, belief, and hope in the world couldn't heal Charlie, and turn him back into the footballer he should be, faster than nature would allow.

Image: Getty Images via Daylife

We'd like to get one thing straight. The untrained among you might imagine that images like those above and here would put us off Mr David Beckham, his brand of uber hot being founded in the kind of perfectly groomed metrosexual majesty ideal for shilling product and contributing to the languid daydreams of millions.

Like her husband, Sylvie seems very comfortable on the bench. Rafael van der Vaart Vaart is upset at his treatment by Holland coach Bert van Marwijk | The Sun |Sport|Football "I gave everything. Also I was playing in a position which is not comfortable for me, I'm not a left winger." Good news for fantasy managers with Gareth Bale in their side.

Johann Cruyff in his weekly posting in "El Periodico" opines that Barça must score early and often before matches become a slog of constant fouling from the opposition. He predicts a tough season for the Barça boys if they get in the habit of playing in low-scoring matches. Had Barça finished more of their chances in the Atletico Madrid match, Messi would have been on the bench as time dwindled down.

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Every week during the 2010-11 season, the languagecaster team explain a football phrase or cliché. Click on the link below to hear the word or phrase and you can also read the transcript below that.

By Ollie Irish

David Beckham was told by doctors that he'd have to wait until October 2010 to make his comeback from the Achilles injury he suffered earlier this year. But Becks being the stubborn sod that he is, it looks like he'll be back in action for LA Galaxy sooner than expected.

The European Championship qualifiers are up and running and on this week's show we feature this and many other stories on languagecaster.com's weekly football podcast. For more football news come to our site, read the posts, listen to our main reports and check out our links section.
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FEATURED POSTS Download the latest podcast which is all about Fabio Capello's England here Read our fabulous Glossary of footballing phrases Listen to something from our back catalogue: The Seven Stages of Being a Manager

Automatically receive the podcast each week by clicking on the icon

________________________________________ PREDICTION

This week's featured match sees England take on Switzerland in Basle in the European Championship qualifiers.

Mixed injury news ahead of Bolton game | News Archive | News | Arsenal.comNews from the Arsenal camp is that Nasri will be back to training later this week (I wouldn't count on him to feature this weekend though) and that RvP will be on the bench until mid-October. With RvP's injury history you can't think this comes as a big surprise.

We have learned this morning out of Ft Lauderdale that Miami FC's top scorer this season, Paulo Araujo Jr will be ready to suit up for Real Salt Lake as early as today's game versus the Seattle Sounders.
Recent Rumors had placed Paulo with the L.A. Galaxy, but it seems Paulo was being shopped around to other MLS teams and Real Salt Lake seems to have been the team to sign the player on loan for the remainder of the season.

The New England Revolution, who have played with a short roster since waiving midfielder Joseph Niouky back on August 10th, failed to fill the vacancy before yesterday's 5 p.m. roster deadline freeze.

Head Coach Steve Nicol and the Revs made no move to fill their empty roster spot before the MLS roster freeze deadline.

Chris Hughton has indeed given two of the Newcastle new boys Cheick Tiote and Ben Arfa their first starts this afternoon at Goodison Park, with Cheick Tiote, the Ivory Coast International, making his debut. Alan Smith and Jonas Gutierrez are relegated to the bench and indeed the side is the one we hoped Chris would [.

Ives and Goff both do an Americans Abroad every week.

I'm going to provide a slightly different look at it though.

Keepers
Dom Cervi - 0% available minutes, not on bench for Celtic in last two at minimum. ESPN lists him as Don, and hasn't updated his gamelog in nearly a month.

Following the resignation of Héctor Rivoira from the Huracán bench on Monday, the Parque Patricios club have moved swiftly to find a replacement. They announced on Monday that they'd given a contract to Miguel Ángel Brindisi, just over eight years ... Continue reading →

League Cup in England, with Gerard Houllier finally appearing on the sidelines as Aston Villa's new manager. With Brad Guzan in goal and Eric Lichaj also in the starting eleven, Villa beat Blackburn 3-1. Emile Heskey brought Villa level in the 59th minute and Ashley Young added two more goals in the 75th and 77th.

Premier League team news - Barclays Premier League - ESPN SoccernetManchester City v ChelseaLampard, Kalou and Benayoun are out for Chelsea. Ferreira likely to be back on the bench. Meanwhile, Manchester City face a defensive crisis.Arsenal v West Bromwich AlbionVermaelen and Fabregas are out with Diaby, Rosicky, and Eboue maybes.

It looks like Newcastle United are pressing ahead with their plans for the future of the club as it has emerged that highly rated French youngster, Yven Moyo, has signed a four-year deal with Newcastle. Moyo has been on trial with Newcastle and featured on the bench for the reserves during their 2-1 win over Wolves [.

Real Madrid have been called a lot of things by a lot of people over the years, but goal-shy is certainly not one of them. During the 'galatico' era they played by the simple rule of 'score more than the opponents', whilst even when they have not won titles, they have always found the net.

This season though things appear to be very different indeed.

The writing was on the wall....
Goal.com - I-League: Pune FC Sign Former Salgaocar Striker Mandjou Keita
Mandjou Keita was the 2009 USL points leader and a big part of the Timbers 2009 unbeaten streak.
Unfortunately, things didn't pan out out Keita's way in 2010, as he struggled in games for us.

Back in June I wrote that,

I think what Almunia has shown with his patchy form over the last two years is that he is good enough to be a back-up keeper but he has been promoted above his station. Whether he would want to go back to bench-warming is something I can only speculate about.

Some upsetting news at Camp Nou have arrived as their star defender Carlos Puyol well be missing the next 3 weeks after sustaining a muscle injury during warm-up's in Barcelona's clash with Racing Santander. Although the club did still go on to win the match 3-0 against Racing, it still has to suck to see the bench for 3 weeks when the season just got under-way.

When does Barcelona NOT strike fear into clubs worldwide? They do it so well on the pitch and this summer, they did it through their use of the transfer market. The signing of David Villa to spearhead such an already petrifying forward line is something that has to have La Liga teams and Champions League rivals quaking in their boots!

Date: Wednesday May 05 2010
Ground: Park Road Stadium
Comp: North West Counties Div One (step six)
Match: Cheadle Town 4 Wigan Robin Park 1 HT: 2-1 ATT: 32
Additional: Entrance £3, Programme £1.00, Coffee/Tea £0.60

Park Road Stadium in pictures

I went to Park Road at the end of last season.

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Every week during the 2010-11 season, the languagecaster team explain a football phrase or cliché. Click on the link below to hear the word or phrase and you can also read the transcript below that.

This is odd. Do Manchester Unite usually end August with seven points from three? Of course, historically, United are slow starters. By no means was August a great start to the season (use Chelsea's start as a reference to define 'great') but it was solid, no less, and very encouraging. Anyway, what normally makes deciding a Player of the Month so difficult is the fact that football is a team game, so opinion is usually split over whom deserves the recognition.

David Beckham has set his sights on making his long awaited return for the game against Columbus Crew on September 11th. The superstar has almost recovered from a snapped Achilles tendon that he suffered while on loan in Italy with AC Milan.
The 35-year-old midfielder had been given a date of October 1st as his return date, but as always he seems to be ahead of schedule.

David Beckham is expected to make his long-awaited return to the LA Galaxy at home to the Columbus Crew on September 11. Buy LA Galaxy v Columbus Crew Tickets

The 35-year-old, who tore his Achilles tendon while playing for Milan during the winter has not been expected to return to the Galaxy until next week.

Fernando Torres enjoyed a goalscoring return to form as Spain routed Liechtenstein in their Euro 2012 qualifying opener in Vaduz. Two goals of the highest order sandwiched David Villas 43rd international goal (just one behind Raul now) with David Silva jumping off the bench to slot in Spains fourth.

On we go trudging through another day without Arsenal. At least it's the long weekend and many of you are probably in cottage country relaxing and enjoying some time off. For the rest of us there are more international games to take in. First let's recap yesterday's events.

Well it turns out Arsenal.

Corry Evans gave Northern Ireland their first win in 10 games after coming off the bench to score the winner in the 70th minute. His country haven't scored in any of their previous 7 and have only won 4 of their last 26.

Evans is therefore unsurprisingly made up with his contribution.

"I haven't scored for Northern Ireland since I was a schoolboy, so to get on the scoresheet in such an important match is fantastic," said Evans.

Fernando Torres (20 March 1984) plays striker for Liverpool and the Spanish national team.

During Spain's 4-0 win over Liechtenstein, Torres netted two sensational goals and showed signs of a return to his old form. After only scoring once in the past 12 months in international matches, the 26 year-old Torres looks finally be overcoming his plaguing injuries.

The European Championship qualifiers are up and running and on this week's show we feature this and many other stories on languagecaster.com's weekly football podcast. For more football news come to our site, read the posts, listen to our main reports and check out our links section.
________________________________________

FEATURED POSTS Download the latest podcast which is all about Fabio Capello's England here Read our fabulous Glossary of footballing phrases Listen to something from our back catalogue: The Seven Stages of Being a Manager

Automatically receive the podcast each week by clicking on the icon

________________________________________ PREDICTION

This week's featured match sees England take on Switzerland in Basle in the European Championship qualifiers.

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has spoken of his delight at seeing Fernando Torres back on the scoresheet after the Liverpool striker netted twice during Friday's 4-0 thrashing of Liechtenstein in Vaduz.
Torres had scored only once in the previous twelve months for his country, but just days after striking the winner for Liverpool against West Bromwich Albion he was in the goalscoring mood again with two clinical finishes to help Spain to a comfortable opening game victory in the 2012 European Championships qualifying campaign.

Jay Spearing has spoken of his determination to impress Roy Hodgson after being named in Liverpool's 21-man squad for the Barclays Premier League.
For the 2010-11 season, top-flight clubs must register a squad of up to 25 players for league games, which must include at least eight 'home grown' players and no more than 17 'non home grown' players.

Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher (26) will pass a major milestone when he lines out as Scotland Captain in tomorrow nights must win Euro 2012 tie with Group I minnows Liechtenstein as it will see him make his 50th appearance for Scotland at Senior International level.

Darron Gibson has let his international boss, Giovanni Trapattoni, know that he has no intention of leaving Manchester United.

Gibson was on the bench throughout Ireland's 1-0 win over Armenia and his manager implied this would the way it would stay until he started getting regular first team football, to give him more "hunger".

According to ESPN Soccernet, Chelsea football Yuri Zhirkov admitted that he will think about his future with the club in January. Zhirkov said,

"I'll certainly get a chance in the next few months and I'll try to use it completely," Zhirkov said.

Roy Hodgson today spoke of his relief after Fernando Torres flew back to Merseyside having enjoyed a night off for Spain in Argentina.
Despite accepting Spain's decision to include the Liverpool striker in their travelling squad for the glamour friendly in Buenos Aires, Hodgson was hoping Torres would do no more than warm the bench after netting twice for his country on Friday in Liechtenstein.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Subscribe: Main Listening Report | Complete List Here

Each week on languagecaster's podcast we feature a main listening report and on this week's show Hans, our German football expert previews the upcoming Bundesliga season.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Subscribe: Main Listening Report | Complete List Here

Each week on languagecaster's podcast we feature a main listening report and on this week's show Hans, our German football expert previews the upcoming Bundesliga season.

By Chris Wright

Tottenham new-boy Rafael Van der Vaart has admitted that he is feeling 'despondent' after finding himself continually on the fringes of the Holland national team under Bert van Marwijk.

Van der Vaart was left on the bench for Holland's Euro 2012 qualifier with San Marino on Friday, and was seen to cover his mouth as he trudged off the pitch in a funk after being substituted during the 64th minute of their game with Finland last night.