Sports Burst – World Cup KO for Kane?
Fraught nerves in camp England, PAOK-ing heat in Greece and sister showdown at Indian Wells.
By Tim Stannard
Nervous wait on Harry Kane’s World Cup chances
After seeing Neymar’s fractured foot and now Harry Kane’s injured ankle, the world’s top players are going to be thinking twice about getting involved in anything vaguely physical or exerting out on a football field. A bit like Real Madrid and Arsenal for much of the league season in actual fact.
The Tottenham striker is now on the World Cup watch-list along with PSG’s Brazil star after a collision with Bournemouth Asmir Begovic. Spurs and England fans are nervously awaiting news from a scan on the striker’s ankle set to take place on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Premier League wraps up on Monday with Manchester City enjoying the chance to take another step nearer the Premier League title if a victory is secured at Stoke City.
The Bundesliga has a huge relegation battle between Werder Bremen and bottom-of-the-table Cologne while La Liga finishes up with Alaves hosting Betis, live on beIN SPORTS and beIN SPORTS CONNECT at 3:50PM ET / 12:40AM PT.
Catch the best of the action on the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT.
Greek league suspended after pistol-packing PAOK problem
A league that was already mad as two cats in a hat has decided to take a long hard look at itself. That league is over in Greece with the competition being suspended indefinitely after the PAOK owner walked onto the pitch to have a chat with the referee after a contentious call against his team in a game against AEK Athens. That was bad enough but the irate Ivan Savvidis had a gun strapped to his belt at the time. An arrest warrant has now been issued for the Greek-Russian businessman.
"It will not start again without a new framework agreed by all," announced Greece’s deputy minister for sport Yiorgos Vassiliadis on Monday. The incident topped off a troubled weekend in Europe with pitch invasions by fans at West Ham and Lille.
PSG bosses reportedly making emergency trip to Neymar-land
Ney-day! Ney-day!
The probably made-up Neymar story of the day sees a French TV channel reporting that PSG president Nasser Al Khelaifi and the team’s Sporting Director making an urgent trip to Brazil to both see if their star player needs an extra fluffy pillow on his recovering foot and also to check on if he is going to be leaving the French club after just one year.
Constant reports that the footballer is leaving for either Real Madrid this summer – or even back to Barcelona – have apparently spooked the PSG bosses who want to take Neymar’s itchy-feet temperature. The Brazil trip will also afford an opportunity for the PSG men to pay homage and offering to Rafaella, Neymar’s sister who has just celebrated her birthday, an event that is number one in footballer’s calendar every year.
Williams v Williams in Indian Wells
The Serena Williams comeback goes marching on with the US legend storming into the third round with a clash on Monday at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells against another US tennis legend. That legend happens to be her sister. Also known as Auntie Venus. Serena currently leads the way in their head-to-head statistics 17-11. “I wish it was anybody else in the draw, literally anybody, but that's OK,” admitted Serena.
Roger Federer is the big draw in the men’s bracket in the last 32, after a rain-blighted clash against Federico Delbonis saw the world number one take two days to get past his Argentinean opponent.
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The life philosophy of Sports Burst is that if you are not upsetting someone, then you are not trying hard enough. Sports Burst 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.