By Chris Wright

If you thought the tin-foil statue of Neymar erected in Santos' club museum a few weeks back was an iffy likeness, then get your peepers around this a papier-mache caricature (complete with bog-brush mullethawk) for use in an upcoming Brazilian carnival of some description.

This guy is here to remind you. It's here, and it's...something.

This is not your prawn sandwich brigade. It's more like a carnival crossed with a drag show dashed with a touch of Japanese game show. Which makes the stands equally as watchable as the happenings on the pitch if not more so.

By Chris Wright

The interminable dancing and utterly pointless cavalcade of 'together as one' yadda yadda yadda-ing is finally over, the new Adidas Tango matchball has been rolled out and looks glorious (more on that later) and, as an aside to the entire carnival of shite, UEFA's all-important balls of destiny have been drawn from the hat of fate in Kiev.

Oliver Holt's big match verdict: Fergie almost looked sorry for humiliating his old foe

Re-births have been ­celebrated with happy and heady regularity in the 25 years since Sir Alex Ferguson took over at Manchester United. But amid the euphoria that accompanied the latest rampage of gilded youth at Old Trafford yesterday, an element of sorrow intruded, too.

I may take a few days to develop a theory that hit me tonight. The problem with TFC is the CNE. I am of baby boomer vintage and can remember when the CNE was the pinnacle of a Toronto summer. It was not just an amusement park, it was a showcase for the latest and the greatest The world has changed and we know that the old CNE has been left behind by Disney this and Universal Studios that.

I've been catching up with Carnivale, the US series about a carnival travelling through the dustbowl during the Great Depression. It's compelling television but frankly not one to come home to after a bad day, evoking as it does a picture of poverty and suffering that places little value on human life.

Perhaps it is because I was never any good at drawing but I'm always in awe of people who are capable to create visually stimulating pieces of art. There are a couple of excellent designers who combine such a talent with their passion for Liverpool FC, Kitster being one; the people at LoveConquerFollow others.

Tan Sri Annuar Musa, Deputy President of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), has announced that a national women's football league will kick off next year with a similar format to the men's Malaysian League. "I am confident that the idea will be well received [by] the states," he told Bemama news agency.

A 2006 Italian commercial for Sky. From Brazil to Germany. Follow the leader. A commercial broadcasted during the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006. Plus de Pubs : http://www.dailymotion.com/CulturePub .. . Tous droits rservs. Pour toute information, contacter culturepub@wizdeo.com Author: CulturePub Tags: advert comercial commercial pub publicité culturepub fun funny humor cool video Sky Germany 2006 football broadcaster FIFA World Cup Brazil street Rio children dance boy Kaka Bavarian carnival beach Posted: 15 June 2011 Rating: 0.

By Chris Wright

In which Ronaldinho drops in on Argentinian game show 'Bailando Por Un Sueno' (Dancing For A Dream), does a few kick-ups, nutmegs the host Marcelo Tinelli, watches Tinelli fall flat on his mush/elbow then skedaddles...

Just a thought.

This match was supposed to be a foregone conclusion. Indeed, the final aggregate score perpetuates that feeling. Truth, however, can be stranger than fiction and the supporters of Wrexham FC can be justifiably proud of the performance of their team at Kenilworth Road this evening. In the first leg of this Blue Square Premier play-off, Luton Town put in a display of consumate professionalism at The Racecourse Ground as the home side froze on their big night.

Actually, not really. I think it was a fair enough scoreline; both teams could have scored a goal more maybe. I just wanted to make use of reversal headlines, my favourite kind of headlines. And reversal was something that our form needed awfully. Arsenal had just one win in a billion matches, and United's end-of-season harvester was puttering along with a minimum of fuss, belching out remains of team after team in a string of just-doing-enough, efficient victories.

I took a wander from my apartment here on Monday and one of the first people I saw was Ronaldinho, sitting enjoying a leisurely beer in a temporary break from the revelries of Carnaval. Seated to his right was another Ronaldinho, doing the same thing. On his left, yet another ...
In truth, they were all just people wearing Ronaldinho masks, one of the big hits of this year's festivities.

This blog has been a little abandoned lately, and the reason for such had been forewarned by FIFA's General Secretary almost a year ago: Brazil only starts to work after Carnival (and in 2011 the Carnival will be from 5th through 8th March).

Little happened these past few months (this latest status is still up to date).

MELBOURNE, Australia The Melbourne Victory soccer club has angrily denied claims its fans are violent, amid criticisms from police and the state government. A senior Victorian policeman on Friday said members of the force were reluctant to volunteer to work at Melbourne Victory soccer matches because of violence among the team's supporters.

Just came back from the S.League Fanfare held at the *SCAPE at Orchard Road (pictured above).
I think it was the first in years that the annual pre-cursor of the League being held in the downtown area with aim to use the music, the carnival atmosphere created to draw the attention of any random passer-by to take a peek what's going on and tell them the new season is going to kick-off in 12th February.