By CALEB SONNELAND

When the French Football Association announced its men's and women's Ballon d'Or finalists for 2011, the usual suspects were all accounted for — with one American in the mix.

The La Liga trio of Lionel Messi, Xavi and Cristiano Ronaldo are set to contend for the men's award, while Marta, Homare Sawa and Abby Wambach will vie for the women's prize.

Brazilian football legend Socrates has died at the age of 57 it has been reported today.

The former Botafogo, São Paulo, Corinthians, Flamengo and Fiorentina player was taken to hospital on Friday with food poisoning and later died through an intestinal infection.

Socrates was perhaps best known amongst football followers for his performances with the Brazilian national team in the 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cups and it is sad that he is one of few Brazilians superstar players never to win a major tournament with the Seleção.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is set to step up his pursuit of a new midfielder to replace the injured Lucas and is lining up a move for Shakhtar Donetsk's Jadson, according to reports on talkSPORT.co.uk.
Lucas sustained anterior cruciate ligament damage to his knee during the Carling Cup victory over Chelsea on Tuesday, which is expected to keep him out of action of at least six months.

By Alan Duffy

Ronaldinho having some 'me time' whilst training with the Brazilian national team

One of football's more colourful characters, Brazilian legend Ronaldinho, must be feeling rather embarrassed right now, after an x-rated webcam video of the star erm, giving himself a 'helping hand', was leaked on the internet, in true Dirty Den/Leslie Grantham style.

"It is impossible to watch a Brazil game right now, our soccer is hideous. The national team is patterned, stigmatized and absolutely conservative. You watch an entire match and there is not a single player dribbling. It is European soccer disguised as Brazilian."
-- Former Brazil star Socrates offers his opinion on the Brazilian national team under coach Mano Menezes

Brazilian midfielder Ricardo Izecson Dos Santos Leite aka Kaka won't be making his much awaited return to the Brazilian national team after a calf injury ruled him out of the Selecao's upcoming friendlies against Gabon and Egypt.

The Real Madrid star who has been in fantastic form for Los Merengues these past few weeks will have to wait a little longer to play his first match for his country in more than a year.

BEM-VINDO aaao Selecao Bootcamp, a tradition we have on the Brazilian National Team. There are only two ways to get by the next few days soldier on and take it like a man (boring) or spice it up and go crazy, David Luiz style! Of course, everybody prefers the second one, especially when they'd rather be at home doing gloriously fun things like barbecuing on Anderson's front porch in a sarong (here's looking at you, Fabio!

Every Wednesday, we round up some of the funny and interesting stories from the world of football! Today, read about Neymar's love trials, Drogba's Oktoberfest & the Van der Vaarts.

Now now, don't be hatin' yet! We know many girls come to this site looking for Neymar and can't get enough of the Santos boy wonder.

The Future of Brazil is a post from: Just Football

Brazil's performance at the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups this year, where they finished respectively in third place and as winners, as well as the presence of some exciting young players in the Copa América squad gave us a glimpse of the future of the national team.

By DAVID MOSSE

The last unbeaten in the Brazilian Championship fell on Thursday night, as Flamengo was thrashed at home by Atletico Goianiense. Next up is a high-profile clash with Internacional on Sunday (3 p.m.), one that Wanderley Luxemburgo hopes will represent a return to normalcy for the Rio de Janeiro giants, who suffered only their second defeat of the year and are three points behind Corinthians.

Santos striker Neymar last night denied to reporters that a move to Real Madrid is imminent. The 19 year old is one of the most sought after youngsters in world football, but after Brazil's match against Germany last night he told reporters that he will remain in Brazil.

"No, no, I'm still a Santos player," he said when asked about a move to Real Madrid.

Paraguay celebrate their penalty shoot-out success against Brazil

The Copa America is defying all expectations as tournament hosts Argentina and defending champions Brazil both went out at the quarter-final stage this weekend. Even when one takes into consideration Venezuela's progress to their first ever semi-final and Peru's extra-time triumph over Colombia it is fair to say that this year's tournament is one of the most open ever staged.

In the last 24 hours, Brazil witnessed almost three dramatic defeats in different levels:
Just now, Germany managed to defeat Brazil 4-3 in World Cup U-17 in Mexico to win the third place. Brazil was leading 3-2, but didn't manage to protect the score.
Just few hours before that game, Brazil lost the quarter final of the women World Cup to USA after again Brazil failed to protect its score.

The final round of group matches at the 2011 Copa América is well underway, with Colombia leading Bolivia 2-0 as I type. Last night, after Venezuela's win over Ecuador which took the vinotinto to the top of Group B, I ... Continue reading →

The Brazilian national team will play two friendlies in Brazil over the next week. First, on Saturday in Goiânia, a rematch of the quarter-final game with Holland that ended Brazil's campaign in last year's World Cup. And then on the following Tuessday, Ronaldo's farewell game, against Romania, held at the Pacaembu stadium in São Paulo.

"Qatar #1, Russia #1... ethics...hach pewy!"
There isn't too much else we can, or want, to say about Toronto FC this week after sitting through their 6-2 drubbing on Saturday. So, we thought we'd take a look at another well-oiled football machine with no apparent problems - FIFA. Unless you've been living under a football rock (I think it's in Oklahoma) then you've heard about the many accusations and allegations of corruption coming out of The Death Star FIFA's Swiss headquarters.

It's an all-Portuguese Europa League affair tonight (quit the groaning OK, we know all the glamour is in next Saturday's CL finale showdown but you can't ignore these equally hardworking tipos!) As always, the Portuguese press including A Bola (who do things like crawl into Cristiano Ronaldo's private jet, among other things) came up with a pretty interesting "ode to Dublin" on today's front cover.

Virginia Beach, Virginia - The W-League Piranhas are pleased to announce the signings of Brazilian forward Janaina Novaes from Lee University and England's center mid Elisha Fry from Lindsey Wilson College. Both internationals have earned NAIA First-Team All-American honors. They join the Piranhas subject to USL and USSF approval.

FIFA World Cup™ winner Rai has backed fellow Brazilian Lucas to win over his critics at Liverpool. Midfielder Lucas has been a regular for the Reds since 2007 but often finds his ability questioned by fans and the media.
However, Liverpool managers Rafael Benitez, Roy Hodgson and now Kenny Dalglish all have shown enough faith in the former Gremio man to give him regular starts, and 1994 FIFA World Cup captain Rai believes he will eventually convince others of his ability.

It's that time of year again. While winter may be bringing a healthy helping of snow to Foxboro, it's covering the rest of the world with a myriad of transfer rumors and this time New England isn't being left in the cold.

New Year's Day marks the opening of the midseason transfer window in most European leagues.