by Des Norris 

1) UEFA reinforce the notion that the individual is greater than the team

Leicester City, Iceland, Independiente del Valle. Three recent examples that prove the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. But let’s not kid ourselves, individual glory is the global game’s real measure of greatness.

And thank goodness UEFA knows that too. The pencil pushers in Switzerland have whittled down their 37-man shortlist for the highly coveted ‘Best Player in Europe’ award to ten names: Ronaldo, Bale, Pepe and Kroos, Buffon, Griezmann, Messi, Müller, Neuer and Luis Suarez.

With the winner to be announced on August 5 in Monaco, the impossibly subjective debate will have to wait another few weeks before being put to bed once and for all.

2) Replica shirts and thinly veiled messages for sale

As transfer rumors go, this one sounds like a stitch up. Ba-Dum Tshh. But when two Real Madrid players’ names go missing from the official store’s carefully arranged lineup of replica shirts, something tells us it ain’t down to an oversight on the part of a lowly shop assistant.

No, this has all the trappings of a scheme so poorly devised that it could only be the handy work of the bright sparks at the top of the Bernabeu food chain.

It would appear the PR masterminds who brought us the David De Gea fax machine fiasco, and the ‘let yourself out the backdoor’ Iker Casillas sendoff, have been busy at it again. This time it looks as though the administrative wizards in Chamartin have focused their attention on tackling the thorny issue of how best to get across the message that Jese and Nacho’s services are no longer required.

With speculation mounting for some time that the two youth academy graduates’ days in the Spanish capital could be numbered, the subtly dial was turned down to zero on Friday when puzzled shoppers at the stadium’s merchandizing megastore discovered the Spanish pair had been unceremoniously dropped from the numerically-ordered display of first team jerseys.

3) FC Cincinnati sticks it to the MLS big boys

While David Beckham’s Miami MLS franchise gets harder to identify on the dusty shelf of forgotten sports projects, the credibility of soccer newbies FC Cincinnati as a top-flight contender continues to soar.

Since coming into existence last August, the third tier team has successfully tapped into the Queen City’s insatiable appetite for the beautiful game. Five-figure attendances have been the norm at Nippert Stadium from the get-go, and the 35,061 bums on seats to watch the Orange and Blue take on Crystal Palace in Saturday’s friendly match dwarfed the numbers drawn at every single one of the weekend’s Major League Soccer games.

Hell, even the Premier League heavyweights from South London, whose own ground can only accommodate a paltry 26,000 backsides, were in awe of the turnout, with the ignominious dancer of English soccer Alan Pardew exclaiming: “I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life for preseason. It was like a cup final.”

Quite. Only this time you won, Alan.

4) A beer-swigging star is born

Sure Henrik Stenson may have taken the spoils at Troon over the weekend, winning his first ever major title, but it was Andrew ‘the Beef’ Johnston who stole the gallery’s heart. The emergence of the scruffy-bearded, rosy-cheeked Londoner at The Open sent spectators into a tizzy on the Scottish fairways.

The fact the cuddly Englishman failed to claim the Claret Jug seems of little importance after the fact. The real takeaway from the competition was the welcome counterpoint the grinning 27-year-old offered – for however fleeting a moment it may prove to be - to the stuffy world of shushing at tee boxes and opting out of Olympic Games over life-threatening viruses. Beware tournament organizers, any future events not featuring the stout savior of golf will prompt angry and only slightly ironic cries of ‘Where’s the Beef?’.

WHAT IS SPORTS BURST?

The life philosophy of Sports Burst is that if you are not upsetting someone, then you are not trying hard enough. SB is a daily trawl and troll through the morning's sports news to bring you fact-nuggets to make you both smile and swear. Hopefully at the same time.