By Tim Stannard
 
 
1) Peru parties after long-awaited return to the World Cup
 
Well, at least one country was celebrating on Wednesday night.
 
Whilst dumbstruck Italy fans were in their third day of official national mourning and US supporters crashed the internet on this side of Atlantic due to Bruce Arena appearing as a USMNT pundit in a clash against Portugal, the fine people of Peru are still out on the streets of Lima and up the top of the Andes celebrating the country’s first World Cup appearance in 36 years.
 

 
From the opening seconds after the kick-off against New Zealand in the second leg of the intercontinental play-off it was clear that Peru meant business…and business time it became with a 2-0 victory against their Kiwi counterparts. Speaking after the match, Ricardo Gareca – a bit like Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, but with overly-conditioned hair – said that he was dedicating the win to the fine people of Peru. "They supported us at all times, they enjoyed it and I'm very happy."

 After two-and-half years, World Cup qualifying is officially over with over two hundred countries whittled down to 31 qualifiers along with hosts Russia. Missing the rumble in Russia are Italy, the USA and the Netherlands, but the party will be boosted by the presence of Iceland, Costa Rica and…of course…Peru.
 
The draw takes place on Friday December 1st in Moscow but tune into the XTRA from 7PM ET / 4PM PT today to look into the likeliest winners and the dark horses.  

 
2) Neymar under attack from fierce Frenchman
 
Cristiano Ronaldo leaving Real Madrid? – Sports Burst box checked on Wednesday.
 
Time for some Neymar news.
 
After bursting into tears in front of the media last week due to a touching testimonial from national team coach Tite, the Brazilian pulled himself together during the week to feature for his country in a goalless draw against England, hang out with Demi Lovato in London – just ‘let it go’ if that upsets you – get back into training for PSG’s weekend clash against Nantes. Oh, and get buuuuuurrned by the legend that is Eric Cantona.
 
The former Manchester United and most French Frenchman ever questioned the footballer’s decision over the summer to leave Barcelona and head to Ligue Un. “It's not my vision of passion and football,” huffed Cantona.
 
Well, boo sucks to you Mr Cantona as beIN SPORTS is very much on board with the idea. So, tune in to PSG taking on Claudio Ranieri’s Nantes on Saturday on beIN SPORTS 3 from 10:45 ET PM / 7:45AM PT as Neymar makes his first league appearance since his sending off against Marseille.
 
3) Chiellini calls for calm in Italy aftermath
 
A day after the firing of Italian team coach, Gian Piero Ventura, the nation of Italy has taken itself off the sofa after three days of weeping and wailing and is now looking back through the phone records to recreate the happenings from Monday night.

 That includes Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini – and chief playmaker as it turned out in Monday’s stultifying performance against Sweden – who has spoken about what is being branded as an apocalypse. “Spaghetti and football” – as Christian Vieri said on Wednesday’s XTRA as to the main passions of the people of Italy. “Completely ripping everything up would be a mistake,” said the maudlin stopper, who also denied there being any kind of locker room rift with Ventura during the two disastrous games with Sweden. “They’re all fairy tales,” sighed Chiellini.

Tune into the XTRA to see how our Italian expert Matteo Bonetti is faring…and don’t forget to tune into the Rome derby on Saturday, live on beIN SPORTS 4 from 11:45AM ET / 8:45AM PT on Saturday.
 
4) Federer continues ATP run as Trump returns to Twitter
 
Tennis time! And the ATP finals continue on Thursday with the last two matches of Roger Federer’s group with the Swiss continuing his campaign to the win the finals for the first time since 2011. Federer is looking for three victories from three against Marin Cilic. US player, Jack Sock, needs to defeat Alexander Zverev to move through to the final four.

 
The ever-popular Thursday night football is back in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans – think Spain 2010 in terms of hogging the ball - at the Pittsburg Steelers, two teams in fairly buzzing form at the moment. Meanwhile, the ever-magnanimous President Trump has tweeted ‘You’re welcome’ to the three UCLA basketball players arrested in China on charges of shop-lifting, after previously suggesting through the medium of social media that they publicly thank him for his sterling efforts to secure their release.
 
Before signing off, remember to head to our beIN SPORTS USA Facebook page for a live, 4D living, breathing trawl through the day’s events – it all gets going at 1PM ET / 10AM PT.
 
 

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.