Tickets to the World Cup in Brazil are going to be fairly difficult to come by one would expect, if only in comparison to South Africa 2010. Gun violence is also something of a concern, so combining the two is obviously a natural course of action (work with me). Brazil's planning a "guns for tickets" drive ahead of the World Cup, netting at the very least a discount on tickets.

Lineups are in. We're rolling out pretty much the same lineup we used two days ago. Hopefully there's enough gas in the tank. Sagna is making a surprise return to the bench, so that's a good sign. I hope he's not back too soon. Anyway, join along for the live blogging action.

Fulham Arsenal Liveblog

Merry Christmas! Enjoy the best of our festive content here

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year! And to celebrate (not to mention buy us some time go and eat our own bodyweight in turkey and pigs in blankets), we've pulled together a sackful of Christmas content to keep you going until the football kicks off again on Boxing Day, which you can see by following the links below.

Watch Wayne Rooney wind up Fergie in a game of charades

Imagine, for a moment, that you were playing charades, and were asked to mime the film Bend it like Beckham. How would you convey the Beckham part of that title? Perhaps you might think back to that famous incident in which then Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson hit him in the face with a boot and act that out.

Jose takes a tumble! The Sexwale song! Horror misses! Our 50 funniest football videos of 2011 part two

Every day at 3PM, MirrorFootball brings you the day's funniest football videos in our 3PM Extra feature. Here is our personal choice of the best foul-ups, fouls, fails and four-letter words from 2011.

Tyldesley's sex tape! Mascot in tank! The worst dive ever! Our 50 funniest football videos of 2011 part one

Every day at 3PM, MirrorFootball brings you the day's funniest football videos in our 3PM Extra feature. Here is our personal choice of the best foul-ups, fouls, fails and four-letter words from 2011.

Got, Not Got: When Esso's freebie football club badges mixed petrol with pleasure

It's been labelled "football porn" for "nostalgia addicts", and "a major contribution to football history". 'Got, Not Got' is this Xmas's must-have football nostalgia book... As the world spirals towards an all-encompassing and catastrophic war over dwindling oil supplies, the petrol station can be a bit of a depressing place to visit – especially when it costs the same to fill your tank as it did to buy your first car.

Another week down, another week with the top clubs remaining on top. The playoff race in Major League Soccer is certainly hotter than it has ever been.

I'll keep the intro nice and sweet too. Here's how I see things after this week.

Team Rank Record (W-L-T) Comments 1 (1) 16-3-10 58 pts.

Attacking proficiency on the right side of our defense is not exactly something we've possessed in recent seasons. That's hardly a secret.

Sure, Branislav Ivanovic has been outstanding as a fullback. Outstanding in the face of being forced into the position. Applaud the man. Still, no matter how much we love him (and trust me we do), his ability in the offensive third of the field has never been of elite quality.

Photo by Kelley L. Cox/ISIphotos.com

Dwayne De Rosario reminded everyone on Saturday that he still has plenty left in his tank.

De Rosario scored two top-notch goals and turned in a strong overall performance to lead D.C. to an important 2-0 victory at San Jose over the weekend, earning SBI MLS Player of the Week honors.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Pavel Pardo's long-rumored move to Major League Soccer is complete.

The Chicago Fire signed the Mexican midfielder, adding the veteran who turned 35 years old on Tuesday.

Pardo's decorated career has taken him from the Primera Division in Mexico to Stuttgart in the Bundesliga and back to his home country, where he most recently played for Club America.

DiMartino launches a cross that is pulled out of the air before Farrelly can direct it in.

Western New York answered back, but could not get passed Val Hendersen.

Sinead Farrelly game has been getting much better in the past few matches. She created good opportunities and put pressure on goal throughout the match.

By Andrew Villegas Americans playing in Europe have never had more luck, chances or playing time in Europe, perhaps, than they've had this past year. And they look it. They're tired and USMNT supporters hold their breath that every run by Clint Dempsey and every clearance by Steve Cherundulo will finally fully empty the tank [.

Off The Ball never rests in its mission to scratch around the underbelly of professional football to find the most bizarre, humorous and inexplicable stories.

This week, Napoli's wisdom for WAGs, Manchester United's Darron Gibson lasts just two hours on Twitter, Real Madrid have the last word on Hell Clasico, mascot Sammy the Tammy dons a cardboard tank to gun down fans and Icelandic side Thor Akureyri FC take pranks to a whole new level.

Images: City-Press via berlinonline.de.

This past Monday, Fabian Lustenberger and Sascha Burchert were two of the Hertha BSC footballers who spent their free time with some of their furrier friends at the zoo. One fortunate, flipper-clad lady that also happens to be named Hertha went as far as securing herself a sponsorship deal with the club.

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

When Juan Pablo Angel completed his move to the Los Angeles Galaxy there was plenty of talk about how well he could do in the Galaxy offense, while some in New York questioned whether he had much left in the tank. One thing is clear. How well the Galaxy does in 2011 will be directly tied to how well the Colombian striker does.

OBERHAUSEN, Germany — Paul the octopus, who shot to fame during the football World Cup last year for his flawless record in predicting the outcome of games, will get a shrine to mark three months since he died, his aquarium said Monday The tentacled tipster will on Thursday be honoured with a "Paul Corner" at [.

When analyzing how this draft works out for the Sounders almost all of the attention will be on Michael Tetteh. Sure, he was only picked 20th, so most would have low expectations, but let's remember this line that Adrian Hanauer told Jeremiah yesterday,

Even the trading down thing was really risky, but we felt like the potential rewards were higher than the risk.

Today is testing day at the NSCAA Premier Diploma in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

We woke up early this morning for an 8am start on the pitch and got right into it. Each candidate is given a topic they have to coach, and 15 minutes to both run a practice session and then coach that topic in an 11-a-side game.

It's Saturday morning and day four of training camp; needless to say, the lads are starting to get a bit fatigued after several training sessions coming off a long break. Nonetheless, it appears they have some energy left in the tank.
As usual the equipment room opens at 8:30 a.m., an hour before departure.