Defending Guanabara Trophy (an annual Rio de Janeiro state tournament) winners Flamengo suffered a semifinal defeat to Vasco da Gama and Flamengo striker Deivid is the target of a lot of the blame. And a lot of jokes.

In the 35th minute, with Ronaldinho's Flamengo and Vasco even at 1-1, Deivid was set up right in front of an empty net with a terrific pass through the goalkeepers legs right by the endline. The pass was a little behind Deivid, though, so when he tried to sweep it into the goal, he guided it right off the post and to a waiting defender. Vasco eventually scored a winner in the 78th minute to advance to the final.

Though Deivid led Flamengo in goals last season with 15 (one more than Ronaldinho), Globo blog Bola Nas Costas has already started compiling the cracks about his exceptional miss. Luckily, the new season has only just begun, so Deivid has plenty of time to try and make everyone forget this happened.

And speaking of forgetting, earlier in the day, OFI Crete's Mirnes Sisic had an impressive miss of his own during his side's Greek Cup quarterfinal against Panserraikos. But unlike Deivid, Sisic's team still won 3-0 and advance to face Olympiakos in the next round.

All the stuff being covered outside the unfriendly confines of the award-winning Dirty Tackle...

Sporting KC defender Aurelien Collin is making a run for Dimitar Berbatov's title of...The Continental. [YouTube]

Run of Play is in exile. On Tumblr. Some lovely bits already. [Tumblr]

There is a Steven Gerrard themed hotel in Indonesia. [KCKRS]

The Internet has killed football fantasists. [WSC]

A list of horrible and unusual footballer injuries. [The FCF]

Good read: Vikash Dhorasoo made a documentary about his experience on the substitutes' bench during France's 2006 World Cup run. [Soccernet]

The awesomest business cards you will ever see. [TBG]

Lu-Lu-Lu Lukas Podolski in his usual garb. [Kickette]

Barca's Scottish hero -- George Pattullo. [IBWM]

A new YouTube channel worth checking out, starring DT's own Ryan Bailey. [Kick]

FIFA 12 physics bloopers are always enjoyable. [He did BBQ]

An interview Daniel Cousin, the recent attempted signing of cash-strapped Rangers. [FistedAway]

Joey Barton poses with a jersey he won't get to wear

It's been a long time since Joey Barton was anywhere near an England shirt, but the QPR midfielder has today leaked an image of the brand new strip the Three Lions will wear in next Wednesday's friendly with the Netherlands.

Barton spilled the image via his Twitter feed, presumably after attending some sort of Umbro preview (We're not ruling out a break-and-enter at this point). The sportswear brand can't be too annoyed with the leak, however, as the microblogging voice piece of the western world later posted an additional picture of the new strip. And now Umbro have posted more pictures on their blog:

Manchester City pounded Europa League defending champions Porto 4-0 on Wednesday to advance on a 6-1 aggregate score. Porto defender Nicolas Otamendi got the worst of the team's misfortunes on the day when teammate Maicon went to kick a high ball that Otamendi was trying to head away in the 63rd minute, resulting in a boot to the face for Otamendi.

The bloodied Argentine received treatment on the pitch before he had to be subbed off. Man City then added three unnecessary goals in the final 15 minutes. So at least Otamendi wasn't around for that.

Cristiano Ronaldo takes a penalty kick against Rayo Vallecano earlier this season. (Getty)

Though Rayo Vallecano are enjoying a bit of success, currently sitting 8th in La Liga after winning promotion last season, many of their fans are not. With Spain's unemployment rate the highest in Europe at almost 23 percent, Rayo have decided to offer tickets to Saturday's big match against Real Madrid (a match that wasn't included in season ticket packages) at a discount to fans without a job.

From the AP:

Rayo says it will make 1,000 tickets available at the price of €5 to unemployed supporters for the crosstown derby with the Spanish leaders.

Ticket prices for regular members remain between €20 to €25 as the club hopes to fill their Vallecas Stadium.

If Rafa Benitez were a Rayo fan, he would totally take advantage of this deal.

Standing in the middle of the street is never a good idea -- especially when you're a reporter holding a microphone in the path of footballers trying to flee the training ground. One reporter outside of Milan's Milanello complex apparently thought that not only standing in the middle of the street, but sticking her microphone out to moving cars would be a great way to get an interview. Instead, she caught the sideview mirror of Zlatan Ibrahomovic's Audi A3 in the arm.

According to La Gazzetta dell Sport, an ambulance arrived a short time later to treat the woman, who mentioned plans to sue Zlatan for what happened. Milan, however, have released an official statement clearing Ibra from any wrongdoing.

A.C. Milan wishes to communicate that objective information regarding the incident means that Zlatan Ibrahimovic cannot in any way be held responsible for an event which occurred yesterday and has been widely reported by the media.

Considering the face slaps and head kicks Ibrahimovic

Existing in the shadow of Bayern Munich's much more popular football team, the club's title-winning basketball team wanted to draw some attention their way at the end of last season. So, head coach Dirk Bauermann came up with an idea.

From the AFP:

"With five games remaining, we won the championship (in 2011) and Bastian Schweinsteiger could have actually played for us at the time," Bauermann wrote in his new book, which has been serialised in German daily Bild.

"The idea was discussed with our sponsors Adidas."

But as much as Adidas probably enjoyed the profit potential of a two-sport star, the football guys weren't about to let their star midfielder risk injury for the basketball team.

"The fact Schweinsteiger would not play for us was ultimately one of common sense, imagine if he he was knocked down or injured," wrote Bauermann, who has coached the national team.

"There were just too many unpredictable risks."

The risks on the football pitch have been too great for Schweinsteiger

Carlos Tevez lurks behind Roberto Mancini... (Getty)

Five months and £10 million in fines after refusing Roberto Mancini's request that he warm up a second time during a Champions League match and then fleeing back to Argentina without permission, Carlos Tevez has apologized to the club that could not sell him. The following is a transcript of Tevez's apology, with the help of his adviser Kia Joorabchian, to the man who vowed that Carlos would never play for City again.

Joorabchian: Roberto, if you have a minute, Carlos has something he would like to say to you. I will translate for him.

Mancini: Fine. Go ahead, Carlos.

Tevez: (clears his throat) Ungggh.

Joorabchian: Carlos says, "I wish to apologise sincerely and unreservedly to everybody I have let down and to whom my actions over the last few months have caused offence. My wish is to concentrate on playing football for Manchester City Football Club."

Mancini: He clearly did not say any of that.