A soccer miscellany compiled by MARY HANNIGAN

Video of the week?

TAKE a bow, the Republic of Ireland under-19 women's squad. When they were trying to pass the time between European Championship qualifier matches in their hotel in Serbia earlier this month, they got together to produce a highly memorable performance of popster Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe. It's already attracted close to 20,000 views on YouTube, thanks to it appearing on a number of websites, including Eurosport's.

So, get yourself to YouTube and look up 'Call Me Maybe – Ireland u19 Remake'. And bop 'til you drop.

Mourinho-ish soundings: Brazil will not be following in Barcelona's footsteps

“What is this bullshit saying that we have to follow Barcelona? Are Real Madrid then just a bunch of morons? If the Barcelona system is so flawless why did they not win anything 10 years ago? Xavi, Messi and Iniesta do not appear every year.”

– Brazilian Football Confederation director Andres Sanchez, sounding a bit Mourinho-ish. Although, the fella probably has a point.

“Two or three years ago Liverpool beat us 4-1 at Old Trafford and that genius Benitez said they had planned to beat us by playing long balls in behind. Remember that? Clown.”

– You can tell, Alex Ferguson still pines for Rafa.

“I sent them because I am a big City fan and I love Roberto and I wanted to send him something to cheer him up because he has a really tough job.”

– Eight-year-old Manchester City devotee Megan Kinghorn explaining why she sent Mancini a four-pack of Fruit Pastilles. Ah, bless.

“I didn’t think he would get the job initially. Neither did he, to be honest with you.”

– Stephen Hunt, still almost as stunned as Terry Connor on the latter’s elevation to Wolves’ sizzling hot seat.

“Bus driver performing as well as me today.”

– After Motherwell’s team coach (left) was driven in to a bridge, their striker Henrik Ojamaa conceded on Twitter that he’d been a bit off target himself that day.

Radu says . . . Reja says no

WAS Stefan Radu saying "hi" or "heil" to Lazio supporters after the team's 3-1 win over Napoli?

"The guy doesn't even know what fascism is – if you talk to him, you'll realise that," insisted Lazio coach Edy Reja.

The Italian Football Federation are investigating, though. It wouldn't be the first time a Lazio player was spotted greeting the club's supporters in such a fashion – Paolo di Canio (above), for example, was banned for one match in 2005 for also saying "hi".

Dude: looks like a lady

WHICH manager told Playboy: "I would love to be a woman for 24 hours so that I can really understand them . . . the visual attributes of a woman's eyes, face, breasts, legs, buttocks and her charisma."

(a) Sam Allardyce

(b) Giovanni Trapattoni

or (c) Christoph Daum (above).

Well done, yes, it was the German manager of Club Brugge. We were afraid to read on after that extract, to be honest, at Yahoo's football blog Dirty Tackle. We'll leave the mind to boggle.

PELE v MARADONA: Part 876

Pele: "Now everyone is talking about Messi, he is a star. But (to be the best) he must first become better than Neymar. At the moment Messi is just more experienced."

Maradona: "My God, that is just stupid. Maybe Neymar is the best player in the world, but only if you say that Messi is from a different planet."

Little Andrey: Comes alive

ANDREY Arshavin has been keeping himself busy on and off the pitch since he joined Zenit St Petersburg on loan from Arsenal, his latest venture a new ad for Pepsi.

Alas, judging by the photo of him at a studio in Moscow, that appears on his website, he doesn't look like he's cheered up much.

Alexander Klimov, marketing manager for PepsiCo Russia, appeared to acknowledge that Andrey found it all a bit of an ordeal.

"We would like to say many thanks to Andrey for his endurance and self-control demonstrated during quite a long session," explained Klimov.

Fortunately for Pepsi, the little fella came to life once the camera started clicking.

Burying the head in exotic Bahrain: Don't bore Peter with human rights issues

PETER Taylor's managerial CV is a touch on the extensive side, featuring spells with . . . deep breath . . . Dartford, Southend United, Dover Athletic, England under-21, Gillingham, Leicester City, England (caretaker), Brighton, Hull City, England under-21 again, Crystal Palace, Stevenage Borough, Wycombe Wanderers and Bradford City.

His most exotic appointment, though, even more than Wycombe, came in July of last year when he took over as coach of Bahrain, the timing of his arrival seemingly not ideal, it coming five months after the start of the pro-democracy uprising.

But that didn't worry him too much, Taylor telling the Guardian: "The federation told me that the country was calm and it has been. Since I have been here, there have been more problems in England than there have in Bahrain."

By then, though, two members of the national team, brothers A'ala and Mohamed Hubail, had been arrested by the Bahraini authorities after they joined other sports people in the protests, both subsequently banned by their clubs.

Last week, of course, there was more controversy about Bahrain hosting a Formula One Grand Prix, and for his response to questions about that particular issue, Taylor was made "Man of the Week" by yesterday's Observer.

"I apologise to anybody if I'm missing the point, but for me sport should rise above it. That's the beauty of sport: it brings people together," he said.

What about "the nation's record for arresting and torturing up to 150 sports people last year, including three of his players"?

"Don't go there. You're getting boring."

Sing a sad song

HOW upset were the players of Crawley when manager Steve Evans moved on to Rotherham United last week?

(a) Were they so tearful they refused to play in their next game?

(b) Did they agree to play, but with T-shirts sporting Evans's face under their jerseys?

or (c) Did a video of them appear on YouTube showing them celebrating by crooning "We're singing a song, 'cos the fat man's gone" and "Let's twist again"?

Yup, (c).

Aldo misses striker: As much as Jovanovic misses Anfield   

IT would be accurate enough to say that Serbian striker Milan Jovanovic's brief stay at Liverpool was a less than productive one, the player moving on to Anderlecht last year after appearing just 10 times for the club. He never settled in the city, seemingly surprised by the native language: "If I didn't have my wife and my kids I just couldn't speak Serbian with anybody."

So, he's with Anderlecht now and seems to be happier, apart from that hiccup in November when he was threatened with a five-year ban after celebrating a goal by firing an imaginary machine gun at Bruges fans. Other than that, though, all's well.

John Aldridge, for one, doesn't miss the fella. "I couldn't believe it when I read that Jovanovic has been slaughtering Liverpool," he wrote in his Liverpool Echo column. "Apparently he has told his Anderlecht team-mate Matias Suarez not to ever consider moving to Anfield. Jovanovic said he spent most of his time crying when he was at Liverpool and felt unhappy every day in the city. Well, I shed a tear every time I saw Jovanovic walk out on that pitch."

Ooooh.