Dani Alves will honour the memory of Brazil legend Carlos Alberto when he skippers the side against Argentina in Belo Horizonte tonight.

British athletes made “sporting history” at Rio 2016, but their bosses believe Tokyo 2020 could be even better.

At the flame-lighting in the ruins of ancient Olympia, Brazil’s sport minister Ricardo Leyser tried to assure the world about the troubled Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

The sooner today is over the better for Brazilian football fans, as jokers take advantage of the date to remind them of the thrashing Germany gave them in the World Cup.

It’s no small irony that the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil, although almost universally hailed as one of the best tournaments ever, is destined to retain a unique place in football history, not for all its great games and great goals, but because of one match when, to put it at its mildest, the sublime gave way to the ridiculous.

HELLO, good evening and welcome.

David Luiz is ready to put his World Cup nightmare behind him by helping Paris St Germain make a push for the Champions League trophy.

Referees in Premier League matches next season will use the vanishing spray that came to prominence in the recent World Cup in Brazil, it has been announced.

Luiz Felipe Scolari has resigned as manager of Brazil, the national football federation has announced.

A thrilling World Cup packed full of stunning goals came to an end last night when Germany beat Argentina at the Maracana in Brazil to be crowned world champions for the fourth time.

Germany 1 Argentina 0

An Irish soccer fan, who was in the stands for the World Cup semi-final between Germany and Brazil, is the envy of his pals after leaving the stadium with one of the match balls.

TWITTER was on fire the night of the awful Brazil defeat to Germany, with many terrible jokes about not being able to take it and Neymar; but really it was not funny at all when you think of all those stadiums that were built instead of schools and hospitals, and then the poor host country getting annihilated at home by a 22-legged Teutonic goal machine.

"One day it might indeed all end, but Eamo’s show will surely go on forever."

As Germany and Argentina prepare to contest tomorrow’s decider at the Maracana, there is one last opportunity for a sensational World Cup to finally achieve greatness

What is the point in denying it? There is very little that energises us more than preposterous humiliation. Someone else’s anyway.

The final postcards from Brazil

Three days on and the images from Belo Horizonte that stick in the mind are not those of David Luiz’s Sideshow Bob- standing-on-a-rake routine, nor Germany’s seven wonders, but instead it’s the youngsters and grown men crying in the stands.

Despite being branded a jinx for the football teams he backs, Mick Jagger is refusing to take the blame for Brazil’s World Cup thrashing on Tuesday, which he watched live in Belo Horizonte.

Despite being branded a jinx for the football teams he backs, Mick Jagger is refusing to take the blame for Brazil’s World Cup thrashing on Tuesday, which he watched live in Belo Horizonte.

Just when Brazilians thought it couldn’t get any worse after Tuesday night’s total humiliation in Belo Horizonte, they must now dry their tears and play host to their final from hell.

Argentina 0 Netherlands 0. (AET) (Argentina win 4-2 on penalties)

THE BANNER held up in the Argentine end depicted Pope Francis with his disciples on either side.

Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari lamented a "disaster in six minutes" in their World Cup semi-final hammering to Germany but insisted his future would not be decided until after the tournament.

The reaction was as ferocious as it was predictable but this is only the beginning.

Brazil has been numbed by the 7-1 humiliation to Germany in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday night.

Brazil’s humbling at the hands of Germany has become the most tweeted-about sporting event in history.

Warning: Contains very upset Brazilian fans.

Brazil woke up to a new footballing catastrophe this morning, 64 years after it experienced the ’Maracanazo’ when the hosts lost in the final of the first World Cup on their soil.

World Cup Semi-Final 

With just a half an hour gone last night came an image that perhaps more than any other summed up just what had happened.

Germany 7 Brazil 1

In Brazil he is Felipão; the world knows him as Big Phil.

There were just a handful of us in the lift coming down from the press box in the Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo last week when the doors opened and in walked... ‘O Fenomeno,’ I heard myself involuntarily mutter under my breath.

David Luiz is happy to take the responsibility of leading Brazil out in their huge World Cup semi-final against Germany.

Bayern Munich midfielder Toni Kroos insists his reported move to Real Madrid has not yet been defined, and that he is waiting until after the World Cup before revealing where his future lies.

Brazil talisman Neymar feared he was paralysed shortly after the knee in the back that ended his World Cup.

Brazil 2 Colombia 1

Brazil was in mourning today after an overpass collapsed in Belo Horizonte, reportedly killing two people.

A flyover under construction yesterday collapsed in a World Cup host city, killing at least two people and trapping a commuter bus, two construction trucks, and a car. Nineteen people were injured.

An overpass in Brazil that was part of the World Cup infrastructure plan has collapsed on to vehicles below.

Neymar is fully fit and ready to lead Brazil one step closer to their first World Cup on home soil.

Fifa is investigating a remarkable bust-up at the World Cup after claims Chile striker Mauricio Pinilla was punched by Brazil’s communications director Rodrigo Paiva at half-time during Saturday’s match.

This country’s Bureau Of Tropical Diseases has issued an urgent warning about an expected massive outbreak of yellow fever next Friday.