By Tim Stannard

1) Colombia face Peru in Copa crucial quarterfinal for James

It’s no real secret that Real Madrid boss, Zinedine Zidane, is not the biggest fan of James Rodriguez. The only role for the Colombian at every big match for Madrid under the leadership of Zizou was to warm the bench and occasionally jog up and down.

The exact reason why is something we may only find out when the French manager tells his grandkids over some cheese and wine one day. But with Madrid looking at reshuffling the midfield pack to make room for Paul Pogba, who is very much admired by Zidane, James needs to pull his Colombian finger out to prove that the player can still offer Real Madrid something useful despite a very flat season, indeed.

That chance is coming during the Copa America where James has been considerably sprightlier for his country than club. There is yet another opportunity for James to prove his worth in Colombia’s quarterfinal clash against Peru on Friday. Find out how the scrutinized South American performs on the midnight ET XTRA and see if he impresses our panel.  

2) Zlatan hopes to find hole in Italian back door as Spain plan overpassing performance

Italy are currently trying to get King Zlatan’s move to Manchester United pushed forward a little earlier. The two teams meet in Toulouse at 9AM ET and a defeat for the Swedes would not be a good thing at all for the Scandinavians with just one point picked up in the group opener against Ireland.

Croatia and the Czech Republic go head-to-head in a group D game at 12PM ET that could be fairly tasty, whilst the Spanish will aim to string together 4,530 consecutive passes, do not much else and rely on a center-back to score a goal against Turkey.

A rainy summer in Europe. Who’d have thunk it? The hailstorm suffered during the Northern Ireland v Ukraine clash on Thursday is all too typical of a rather tempestuous weather situation in France that is causing concern over the state of some of the pitches in the Euro2016 tournament. “The pitches should be better and we’re not happy,” grumbled tournament director, Martin Kallen.

3) Barca in late bid to persuade Masche to stay as Morata talks continue

Emergency trip to the USA and catch some Copa America games ahoy! Barcelona’s sporting director, Robert Fernandez, has had his arm twisted and is set to travel to the US in a bid to persuade Javier Mascherano to stay at Barcelona with an improved contract and upgraded locker room hook.

Operation Flip is underway for Real Madrid. The agent of Alvaro Morata was at the Santiago Bernabeu on Friday to discuss apparent plans to bring the Juventus striker to Madrid on a buyback clause and then flip him to the EPL after a lick of a paint and a refitted countertop.

Marek Hamsik is going to get big hugs from both Slovakia and Napoli fans. The Serie A midfielder is putting in some sterling work with his country in Euro 2016, prompting his international coach to suggest a move away from his club. ‘Hell no!’ was the response from Hamsik, three weeks before a probable transfer to Chelsea. "I still have two years of contract with Napoli and my future is here."

4) Curry reaches Vindaloo anger level as golfers pray for sunny day at U.S. Open

Mouthguard-gate! Steph Curry ejected after hurling his spittoon repository into the crowd as the Golden State Warriors lost out to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the sixth and now penultimate NBA play-off game. "I had some stuff I wanted to get off my chest," said Curry, hopefully not referring to any mucus trapped in the aforementioned guard. The final game will now take place on Monday helping to make some NBA and TV executive types extremely rich indeed.

Rain, rain go away, come again another day. Every child in the state of Pennsylvania was being asked to sing that particular mantra after Day One at golf’s U.S. Open was nearly wiped out by bad weather. Only nine players were able to put their balls into small holes with metal sticks. The Sports Burst weather-cast for Oakmont looks good for Friday, although some players might be close to collapsing with exhaustion for having to walk the course twice to catch up. Jordan Spieth is the defending champion.

5) Russians face official Olympic ejection as F1 gets used to Baku fender-benders

Russian sport is back in the news on Friday. And once again it is not in a good way. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) – the group that governs track and field – is set to decide on Friday whether to lift a ban on Russian athletes that currently sees them unable to compete in the Rio Olympics. Russia was originally suspended in November following accusations of state-sponsored doping. The Russian federation will have to prove that it has taken sufficient action to deal with what has been branded as systemic doping.

Lewis Hamilton is fastest in practice in what looks like quite a new but mad Grand Prix event. The Brit tops the speed charts in the inaugural Azerbaijan GP, which is a street circuit in the country’s capital city of Baku. The track which is new to all the drivers is causing more fender-benders than Bogota city center at rush hour.

In the heady world of Superbikes, the riders are also tuning up their monster machines of speed. SBK has reached round eight and are swanking about in Italy. Aruba.it Racing-Ducati rider Davide Giugliano – catchy team name there – is fastest in the day’s first practice, followed by USA’s very own Nicky Hayden. You can catch both races live on beIN SPORTS at 7AM ET on Saturday and Sunday.

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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. 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.