There have been two false starts, but this time Cory Gibbs looks like he is really back.

Bedeviled by a pair of knee injuries, the first of which cruelly ruled him out of World Cup 2006, the US defender then suffered broken metatarsals just as he was reaching match fitness last October.

Gibbs is now submitting request #3 for clearance for Valley take-off.

"It has all healed," Gibbs told American Soccer Daily of his latest injury. "My secondary and fourth metatarsals were broken, so it took time for the bones to heal, but they've finally healed. So now I am just waiting to get back on the field."

The 28-year old has been the unknown soldier since signing for the Addicks in May 2006, following spells with Feyenoord, ADO Den Haag and the Dallas Burn.

Following a frustrating two years on the sidelines, one might be forgiven for thinking his mood is low - in fact, it is anything but.

"It's fantastic," said Gibbs, well known in his circles as a positive-minded person. "It's the best feeling to be back and I look forward to every day. I am happy to be out training and it's an added pleasure to be playing."

The man marking machine completed 90 minutes for Charlton's reserves last week and managed a shot on goal in addition to his defensive duties.

"There are no problems," he confirmed about his foot. "I am looking forward to moving on from here. My next game is the 17th with the reserves."

Such buoyancy from a man invisible in the stats since 2006 may come as a shock, but his club have certainly not lost patience with their American signing either.

"I can't take anything away from Charlton," he said. "Ever since I got here, they have been nothing but supportive of me. They have helped me in every way. The physios have been great and the gaffer has been great too."

Which begs the question posed many times over the past two years: when will we see the Floridian pulling on the red jersey of Charlton competitively?

"That's up to the gaffer," Gibbs replied. "I am not the one to answer that question. All I can do is my best and train my hardest, and be there when I get the call. I can't rush into it. I have to be ready inside myself, mentally and physically, before I step onto that field."

The mention of mental preparation inevitably throws up the question of what the past two years have done to Gibbs the man.

Sporting careers are short, so two seasons lost in your prime are irreplaceable, and made worse if you were slated to start for your country in the World Cup finals.

"Before I got injured, I was almost never hurt," he reflected. "(I) probably took things for granted, so now before every training session I prepare myself mentally as well as physically, and then go out and do my best."

As honest a person as he is a player, Gibbs has had plenty of time to understand and embrace his misfortune, and has accepted his two lost years as the counterpoint to his successes - as well as a second wing which will allow him to fly again.

"I'm much stronger, much stronger," he intones. "I have dealt with my difficulties fairly well. I have had a lot of support and whatever has happened hasn't broken me down."

The hours, days, weeks and months spent on the sidelines force a player who only wants to compete into confronting introspection, a state you either opt to explore or refuse to enter. Gibbs went through that door, and has exited the better and wiser for it.

"Being hurt means you spend a lot of time watching," he confirmed. "I think about my past and the things I have been through, and I know I can't let anything hold me down. I am a strong believer in everything happening for a reason."

Gibbs is as soft-spoken as ever as he utters these professions of faith, his relaxed voice betraying determination and inner might. This is no uncertain statement of intent, papering over the cracks with the stock optimism of the sportsman, but the proof of lessons learned through pain.

"Mentally, everything is developing into a stronger plan, which has given me more and more hunger to play out there, and not take things for granted," he says.

Gibbs' name is often mentioned in soccer circles with a shrug of regret. He is popularly supposed to have been the unluckiest American abroad, since he felt an odd pain in the shower after the US played Morocco in May of 2006.

Despite a blank slate since that summer, Cory Gibbs is now a man brimming with enthusiasm, a model lesson in overcoming soccer's - and life's - setbacks.

"I could not ask for anything more right now," he freely admits, before chuckling, "Except to be playing, of course!"