Middlesbrough Ladies have become the first British
football team to tour North
Korea.

The team will spend four days in Pyongyang, the capital of the famously
secretive communist republic, playing two friendly matches and coaching local
children.

Middlesbrough hosted the North Korean team at the 1966
World Cup, and the town's Ayresome Park stadium played host to the famous 1-0
win against Italy, creating a bond that has lasted over four decades.

Middlesbrough Ladies manager Marrie Wieczorek aid: "We're going to see
a different type of football and we're going to be able to meet people from a

Another day, another debacle. Pictures of England players holed up in a hotel taking the weight off their feet, boozing and puffing on cigars after the loss to Germany while the Football Association debate the future of the much-maligned national coach Fabio Capello. This is juicy material for a tabloid feeding frenzy.

The front page of The Sun focuses on an unfortunate image of Aaron Lennon sucking on a Cuban cigar with the rest of his teammates amid a smattering of beer, wine and cigars.

The image apparently was sent home from defender Ledley King via a Blackberry, but causes uproar in

An investigation is underway after a young baseball fan who invaded the pitch was shot by a police officer with a Taser gun.  

The Philadelphia Phillies supporter's invasion was brought to an abrupt end when he was hit by a bolt from the electroshock weapon during a Major League Baseball game against the St Louis Cardinals.

The 17-year-old, who has not been named because of his age, hurdled a fence before running rings around security guards who tried to catch him in vain.

But the police officer eventually caught up with him and felled him with a shot that brought him immediately to his knees.

Students at Leeds University have broken the world record for the longest ever football match after playing for an incredible 57 hours.

Two squads of 18, one from Leeds and one from Warwick University, faced off against each other in the contest meaning that each player had to play for about 29 hours.

The players were only allowed to have a five-minute break each hour and no squad members were allowed to leave the side of the pitch except for one player who was rushed to hospital with a suspected broken foot.

Leeds won the match 425-354.

It was the second time the university has broken the

Not since a pony-tailed David Seaman escorted a speculative Ronaldinho free-kick into his own net has a goalkeeper provoked such furore, but Robert Green cannot escape it.

The West Ham man is pictured on every paper wielding a golf club in jibe-central, while even his love life is wedged out of the rough and rival David James throws down his putter in a paddy.

James is reportedly 'livid' at being overlooked for the number one spot, as the blame game post 'Butterfinger-gate' goes into overdrive.

"From tee to Green", "I'll putt it right, lads", "Another shot dropped"....you get the gist.

The

Joe Cole's arrival at Liverpool has spelled bad news for fellow newcomer Milan Jovanovic.

On July 12 the Serbian, a free transfer from Standard Liege, was handed the prestigious number 10 shirt previously worn by Anfield legends such as John Barnes and Terry McDermott.

The announcement on Liverpool's website even offered fans the chance to buy a replica shirt with 'Jovanovic 10' on the back (see below).

But just nine days later, the number 10 has been transferred to Cole after the England midfielder completed his move from Chelsea.

Cole wore 10 at Stamford Bridge, but had been expected to

A Sunday league team had a shock on a boozy pre-season tour of Bulgaria when they ended up playing against the Bulgarian prime minister.

Nottingham United had expected a friendly kickabout against Bulgarian third division side Vitosha, but were stunned when they arrived at the venue to find dozens of spectators, TV cameras and armed secret agents patrolling the ground.

The attention was in honour of Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov, who still turns out for Vitosha occasionally despite being 51 years old and sporting the kind of physique more readily associated with darts than football.

The home team

Should he stay or should he go? Fabio Capello's future as England manager, if he has one, is the main talking point of the UK's papers. The country's collective failure at the World Cup finals continues to be dissected with a lot more intensity than the team's effort in their 4-1 shredding by Germany.

Nobody does criticism better than The Sun. 'Build em' up to knock em' down' is the classic mentality of the British tabloids. It is difficult to imagine it was only two days since Gerrard, Rooney et al were being held up as lions and St George's flags were hanging out of windows and cars up and