Goleiro Bruno

You can't turn on any TV here, or read any paper, without seeing something about Bruno Fernandes. For those not avidly keeping up with this story, he's the (former) goalkeeper for Flamengo, certainly the most popular Rio football team. His lover Eliza disappeared, amid stories that he wanted her dead after telling her she should have an abortion, an order she refused. Then a 17-year-old friend told the police she was dead, and now the suspect languishes in a cell.

In the event that Bruno isn't actually guilty of a crime, this tale still raises some uncomfortable questions. People might think it couldn't happen in the UK,but the Ashley Cole scandal and others exposed the murky world of glamour girls serving as concubines for attached footballers, with tales of abortions being paid for with cash in brown paper bags, parties where girls are bussed in, etc.

I really wanted to watch today's final without thinking of what pigs footballers can be when they're overpaid and overindulged. Then I read that Wayne Rooney said his bad performance for England was down to missing his son, in "an emotional phone call". Might be no truth in it, have to remember that, but if it is, Jesus. He's acting like a tearful Big Brother contestant, is it any wonder England were so dire.

Don't really mind who wins out of Holland and Spain, I've got time for them both and neither have won it before. Going to Fifa Fun Fest for the last time, then to experience Rio when the World Cup isn't on.