David Beckham and Neymar are from way back!

Back when Neymar was a young wide eyed lad, he was privileged to take a picture with David Beckham. David Beckham has given his public support to Brazil's injured talisman Neymar by posting pictures of the pair together over the years via his Facebook page. Neymar suffered a fractured vertebra in his back during the World Cup hosts 2-1 quarter-final win against Colombia on Friday. The injury means the forward will miss the rest of the tournament and Beckham has become the latest star to show his sympathy for the 22-year-old by digging out a series of photographs of the duo dating back from 2006.

Yellow sheep welcome at Tour de' France

One would think that the Tour de France would start in France. And one would be wrong. For the 2nd time in history (2007), “Le Tour” began across the British Channel in the United Kingdown, specifically Leeds to Harrogate. And England has tour fever, complete with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge(Prince William and Princess Kate that is) as well as Prince Harry and Prime Minister David Cameron on hand to congratulate the winners. When one thinks of England, one usually imagines hilly fields populated with 500+ year old homes and lots and lots of sheep. But not usually yellow sheep. The scene along the first stage route included yellow dyed sheep ( via Yorkshire resident Sarah Moriarty twitter): Loved the yellow sheep on the Tour de France! Good ol’ Yorkshire! #TDF2014 #GrandDepartYorkshire pic.twitter.com/kpvQG2nnmA — Sarah Moriarty (@MoriartySarah_) July 5, 2014 Yellow, of course, in honor of the Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey) worn by the General Classification leader. A series of ITV photoshave some of the background of the origin of the yellow sheep: Stage 1 was won by Germany’s Marcel Kittel for Team Giant-Shimano, who outpaced Peter Sagan after a gruesome crash in the last 500m took out several sprint favorites including Mark Cavendish. Most riders ended with the same time, but Kittel will don the Maillot Jaune on Sunday. Kittel won the first road stage last year, as well. Le Tour will continue for three weeks for the traditional Paris finish. In the meantime, fans, both human and sheep, will continue to pledge their fandom via creative costumes. - David Whitlock

Joel Embiid tries to sign Lebron James on twitter

If Lionel Messi was a free agent and he could sign for any club he wished, i bet every team in the world will fancy their chance of getting him to play for their team. In basketball, Lebron james opted out of his contract with the Miami heats and his technically a "free agent". There's no gain saying, James is probably the best player in the game today. Little wonder all the other NBA teams have been trying to sign him. Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid has also tried his bit to help his team land the hit-man. Embiid was selected third overall by the 76ers during the 2014 NBA draft. Soon after, the centermade a push to recruit the NBA’s most sought-after free agent— LeBron James. He tweeted this at him. "@KingJames hey bro hope you're having a good day...... Want to join us in philly?? Peace" — Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid)July 01, 2014 It’s no surprise that Embiid would want the four-time MVP in Philadelphia. After a 19-63 record last season, which included an abysmal 26-game losing streak, the 76ers can use all of the help they can get. Though Embiid made his best recruitment efforts on Twitter, James never responded, and Embiid was not too pleased. Embiid decided to block LeBron on the site just three days after he sent his initial tweets. "He probably DM'd me but I dont read my DMs so I'm gonna go ahead and block him" http://t.co/PunjHSiQRI— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 04, 2014 The 76ers can only hope for such defense this season.

Incredible! How did Messi score this goal?

Here is an arial shot of a Lionel Messi goal he scored against Bosni-Herzegovina in Argentina's goal against them. What sort of trickery is this? How did he score?

Messi has no worries in the world

Lionel Messi may have the weight of a nation on his shoulders, but he wasn’t showing it as Argentina returned to training on Wednesday. The South American side scraped into the last eight of the World Cup thanks to an extra-time goal from Angel Di Maria against Switzerland on Tuesday night. Messi was again the architect for La Albiceleste and they now take on Belgium in Brasilia on Saturday. The Barcelona forward was pictured joking with team-mate Fernando Gago as he appeared to take it easy after his exertions the previous night. Taking a more active part was striker Sergio Aguero who missed the Switzerland clash with a thigh strain. The Manchester City man was running with the ball during the training session in Vespasiano. Aguero played in all three of Argentina’s group games but has so far failed to find the net.

Shakira to sing Brazil 2014 anthem at World Cup's Maracana final

Colombian pop singer Shakira will make her third consecutive World Cup appearance at the closing ceremony in Rio de Janeiro's Maracana stadium before the final match on July 13. Shakira will perform her song "La La La (Brazil 2014)" alongside Brazilian percussionist and singer Carlinhos Brown. 'I have an intricate relationship with football for obvious reasons, and I truly understand what the World Cup means to so many people, myself included,' said Shakira, who is the partner of Barcelona and Spain star Gerard Pique. Mexican-American guitarist Carlos Santana, Haitian-American hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean and Brazilian singer Alexandre Pires will perform the official anthem of the 2014 World Cup "Dar Um Jeito," Portuguese for "We Will Find a Way." The closing ceremony will also feature a samba performance from one of the Rio de Janeiro schools that participate in the city's famous Carnival celebrations. It remains to be seen whether Shakira's native Colombia can reach their first final.

A 1982 Clash Revived as France-Germany Meet in Cup

When Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer embarked on a series of hair-raising dashes out of his area in the second-round win over Algeria, it would have struck a chord with French football fans of a certain vintage. Thoughts no doubt returned to one of the most shocking collisions in World Cup history, which occurred in the 1982 semifinal between West Germany and France and involved another goalkeeper's excursion off his line. Harald Schumacher's airborne challenge on Patrick Battiston, which knocked the France defender unconscious and broke his jaw but went unpunished, still raises anger and emotion in France — particularly as West Germany went on to win that match in a penalty shootout thanks to the saves of Schumacher. Predictably, the incident has been one of the major talking points ahead of the countries' clash in the World Cup quarterfinals on Friday. It will be their fourth meeting on football's biggest stage, with Germany also winning the most recent head-to-head in 1986 in the semifinals. "Tomorrow we will write a new page of history," France coach Didier Deschamps said when asked about the hurt of 1982 and '86. "We will try to make it as pleasant as possible." Under the headline of "A Classic Match," top-selling French sports newspaper L'Equipe used its front page Wednesday to detail the step-by-step process of Schumacher's aerial collision with Battiston. Clearly, the episode hasn't been forgotten in France but many of country's players weren't even born when that game took place. And they aren't using it as motivation. "As far as we are concerned, we live in the present," France's 26-year-old goalkeeper Hugo Lloris said. "There is a long history between both nations but we will concentrate on our own match and we want to write our own history." Germany is playing in the quarterfinals for a ninth straight World Cup and also reached at least the semifinals of the last two European Championships. But there is a growing feeling that a young and dynamic France team can bring down its more experienced opponent. With Germany's defense stretched — and sometimes shambolic — this tournament, that's a department the French will aim to exploit at Rio's Maracana stadium. Ponderous and porous, the German back line also features center backs playing as full backs, allowing Algeria's speedy forwards to cause havoc in the Round of 16 match that Germany won 2-1 in extra time. That's why Neuer was called on so many times to race out of his area and play the "sweeper" role, rescuing his defenders. "There were some matches that were a bit more complicated," Deschamps said of Germany, also referring to the group-stage 2-2 draw with Ghana. "But this is a very solid team, very calm, with strong individual players. They like ball possession. To impose a certain rhythm, a certain style of play." "I have a lot of respect for Germany," Deschamps added. "The team is at a higher level, at least on paper." Deschamps will likely be wrestling with two selection dilemmas ahead of the match, chiefly who to partner with Karim Benzema in attack out of Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann. Giroud has height and presence, but Griezmann offers guile and craft and they might be the qualities that will give the Germany defense more problems. Griezmann's game-changing substitute appearance in France's 2-0 win over Nigeria in the second round could well influence Deschamps' thinking. There is also the question of who plays alongside Raphael Varane at center back out of Laurent Koscielny and Mamadou Sakho, the vice-captain who is fit again after a left hamstring injury. If the French progress past the quarterfinals, they will have done better than most pundits would have predicted, especially with Deschamps having revamped the team in his two years in charge. Though expectations have been raised back in France, there will be more pressure on Germany. "We are not afraid of anything," Lloris said. "We are fully aware of the fact that in one match, just about anything is possible. There is no fear — (just) real pleasure, sheer joy, to be playing Germany in the quarterfinals." And expect Neuer to continue making appearances outside the penalty area as well as inside, just like Schumacher did 32 years ago. "Neuer has the same technical skills as the others — he can play in midfield," Germany coach Joachim Loew said. "He has great orientation, that's why we are happy for him to take some risks."