Sahil Oberoi: Martin Skrtel, like Jonny Evans in denial it seems. When will footballers learn to accept responsibility?

Some more breaking news....

Image source, Reuters

Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel denies a charge of violent conduct over an alleged stamp on Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea.

The incident happened in injury-time during the Reds' 2-1 Premier League defeat at Anfield on Sunday.

The Slovakian, 30, was charged on Monday and faces a three-match suspension. But he claims the incident was accidental and not intentional.

The FA does have the appetite to host the World Cup if the conditions are right, says chairman Greg Dyke.

"All of us would love to have another World Cup. We would love it. But there's no point if you haven't got a chance and you've got to recognise that early on," he says."

Image source, Getty Images

A lot of circumstances would have to be right for the FA to consider bidding for the 2026 World Cup, adds Greg Dyke.

"To make a bid you've got to get whoever is the government onside, and we don't know who that is yet because they have to underwrite it.

"And certainly in the current government you wouldn't have got them onside because they were so badly scarred last time.

"In the future if the government is onside, if David Gill says 'I think this is a straight and fair process' then obviously the FA board will look at it again but that doesn't mean to say we'll bid.

"Also, there's a lot of money involved so if you haven't got a chance don't do it."

Convincing "badly scarred" people to support an English bid to host the 2026 World Cup is not going to be easy, warns FA chairman Greg Dyke. Here's what he tells BBC Sport's Richard Conway....

Conway: "So you could be persuaded to launch a bid for the World Cup?"

Dyke: "It depends on the timetable really. It depends on how quickly it has to be done. But remember you have to get an awful lot of people onside and that's not going to be easy in England now because a lot of people got badly scarred in the process last time."

The FA has previously said it would not bid to host another World Cup while Blatter remains in office.

That stance was taken after England lost out to Russia in the race for the 2018 tournament.

"At the moment the policy is, while Sepp Blatter is controlling it we won't bid," says FA chairman Greg Dyke.

"Now if David Gill being in the executive committee can assure us there's a proper system and it's fair and all those things then we could be persuaded otherwise."

The bidding process for the 2026 World Cup will conclude in May 2017. If Sepp Blatter wins re-election in May he will, in theory, be in office when the decision is made.

England would love to bid to host another World Cup if the circumstances were right, says FA chairman Greg Dyke.

But he says the FA will not bid for the 2026 tournament if Sepp Blatter is still the Fifa president.

Germany's players will wear black armbands during Wednesday's friendly against Australia in honour of the victims of the Germanwings air crash.

The plane, which was carrying 150 people, crashed in the French Alps on its way from Barcelona to Dusseldorf earlier today.

There will also be a minute's silence before kick-off in Kaiserslautern.

"It's had an impact on everyone and it overshadows everything," said German FA president Wolfgang Niersbach. "As a football family, we owe it to the victims and their families to pay our respects."

Image source, @THEFA/Twitter

After the FA announced new proposals to limit the number of non-EU players in English football, the governing body has produced this snazzy bar chart to illustrate the decline in the average number of homegrown players.

Prop Adam Cuthbertson's bright Super League start suggests he could be "one of the best" Leeds Rhinos imports, according to team-mate Jamie Peacock.

Cuthbertson, 30, has scored three tries in six games for the Rhinos since his winter move from NRL side Newcastle.

"He's one of the best signings we've had, he fits straight into the team," forward Peacock told the BBC's Super League Show. "He's brilliant, he's a great worker but has great touches with the ball."

Image source, Getty Images

Here's Vinicius, the mascot of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, atop a Sugar Loaf mountain cable train car in Rio de Janeiro. Today marked the start of the 500-day countdown to next year's Games.

Rubbish view, eh?

BBC Sport's Shamoon Hafez: "In London today to speak to Mark Noble and Winston Reid as West Ham announce a commercial marketing deal at the Olympic Stadium.

"The Hammers, of course, will be leaving Upton Park and moving there as they look to break into a European qualification spot.

"This season, they look set to improve on the 13th-place finish of last term, and it will be interesting to see what the the two players have to say about Sam Allardyce with the manager yet to agree a new contract that ends in the summer."

Goalkeeper Petr Cech's long-term future at Chelsea is in doubt after he suggested he could not spend another season as understudy to Thibaut Courtois.

The 32-year-old Czech Republic international has started just four Premier League games this season, with Courtois preferred as Chelsea's number one.

"I don't know what the club's idea will be. It looks like it works well with me and Thibaut as a duo," Cech told the Idnes newspaper. "But that can work for one season only. I don't want another one like this."

Parul Sharma: Roger Federer. Not a team sport player but simply his presence would do!

Earlier you might have read that Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke is considering asking Liverpool's Steven Gerrard to address his Europe side when they play the United States in 2016.

So we want to know who you would pick to deliver an inspirational team-talk. Would you go for a rabble-rouser in the mould of Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday?, external Or a more explosive, expletive-ridden, effort a la Neil Warnock?

Tell us which sporting hero you would like to hear in your dressing room and why. Tweet #bbcsportsday or text 81111.

Image source, PA

Footballers past and present attended the funeral of former Hearts, Tottenham and Scotland captain Dave Mackay today.

Image source, PA

The Edinburgh-born midfielder died in hospital earlier this month at the age of 80 after a long illness. A cortege travelled from Hearts' Tynecastle Stadium in Edinburgh for a remembrance service in the city.

Hearts described him as their greatest-ever player, while Tottenham called him the "heartbeat" of their 1961 side.

Image source, PA

Sir Alex Ferguson led the tributes to Mackay at the service.

Exeter Chiefs coach Ricky Pellow says plans to cancel next season's LV= Cup is bad news for the club's youngsters.

They lost to Saracens in Sunday's final, having won the trophy 12 months earlier, but the tournament is set to be cancelled next season because of a club fixtures pile-up following on from the World Cup.

"For our younger guys it'll be a shame that they don't get a chance to have a go at this next year," Pellow told BBC Radio Devon.

Image source, Twitter

Commonwealth road race champion Lizzie Armitstead:, external 500 days to go until Rio 2016, most days between now and then will look like this, a lot of hours chasing still to do!

England striker Ellen White has not given up on her World Cup dream after scoring on her club return for Notts County at the weekend after an 11-month injury lay-off.

The 25-year-old missed most of 2014 with a serious knee injury and made her Notts debut in Sunday's FA Cup fifth-round win over Tottenham.

"You can't not think about the World Cup because it is such an amazing achievement to be involved in it," White, who has 17 goals in 47 games for her country, told BBC Radio Nottingham. "Now I'm looking for form for Notts and minutes on the pitch and goals. Anything else is an absolute bonus."

England's first match at the World Cup in Canada is against France on 9 June.

Image source, Getty Images

Cameron France:, external Ray Lewis, he gets you pumped up without fail , just look how he inspired Baltimore Ravens to the 2013 Superbowl.

Ekara:, external Michael Jordan. Reason - Michael Jordan! #sportinghero.

Speaking of motivational speeches, how about this one - Gordon Strachan says up and coming Scottish managers should "get ready for a lot of long nights where you think you are useless."

Dundee boss Paul Hartley, Alan Archibald of Partick Thistle, Hearts' Robbie Neilson and Norwich City boss Alex Neil, who are part of a group undertaking their UEFA Pro Licence, watched Scotland's training session on Tuesday.

Asked if he had any advice for the next generation of managers, current Scotland boss Strachan said: "Get ready for a lot of long nights where you think you are useless. I'm serious. And you have to deal with that.

"You can only be called a good manager or a great manager, like Sir Alex Ferguson and those people, if you can hang in there for a long, long time. But it is a good way to learn. The best way to learn is being a manager and making mistakes."