By Tim Stannard

Zlatan takes out ad to announce LA arrival

A tough decision awaits Zlatan Ibrahimovic when the super Swede touches down in Los Angeles to join the ninth club of his professional career, a journey that has seen the player move from Malmo to Milan to Manchester United. That hard choice is which late show will see his debut in front of the mainstream American audience? Conan, Jimmy, or James?

King Zlatan officially announced his signing for LA Galaxy in the early hours of Friday morning with a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times simply saying “Dear Los Angeles, you’re welcome.” Both boastful yet knowingly self-deprecating at the same time, to reflect the complex on and off-the-field character that Zlatan is.

Once the hullabaloo of Zlatan’s arrival has died down, some real questions will need to be answered. Has the Swede fully recovered from an ACL injury that prevented him from returning to the Manchester United fold? Will the forward be on the same tactical wavelength of his less superhuman teammates? And which poor sap will be on the end of Zlatan’s trademark martial arts moves in Galaxy training sessions?

So many questions, that former MLS coach of the year Thomas Rongen will attempt to answer on the XTRA at 7PM

World Cup big beasts get ready for Russia

The soccer world is finally out of the doldrums on Friday with a whole batch of international friendlies taking place around the globe.

Two of the biggest games sit pride of place on beIN SPORTS and beIN SPORTS CONNECT, beginning with Russia against Brazil, live at 11:50AM PT / 8:50AM PT. Brazil will be looking to see if Douglas Costa can fill the Neymar vacuum on the left flank for the side and if Gabriel Jesus is the right number nine for the team.

The stakes are somewhat bigger for Russia in front of a home crowd just months before hosting the World Cup. Anything less than a strong performance could see the players making a ‘morale-boosting’ visit to the Kremlin sooner rather than later.

Argentina are in action in Manchester against Italy – soccer’s favorite sparring partners now. Leo Messi is a doubt through injury with a late decision set to be made on the Barcelona man. The main aim for Coach Sampaoli is to quickly find Argentina’s best XI for the World Cup, rather than the best eleven players. That clash gets underway at 3:30PM ET /  12:30PM PT.

Must Tri harder for Mexico against Iceland

Elsewhere, Mexico are in action on Friday night in a curious clash against Iceland in Santa Clara, California in a stadium that hosted a 7-0 loss to Chile last time El Tri played there. Happy memories.

Coach Osorio has said that he is fairly certain of the final names of those who will be travelling to Russia, so the pressure is on to prove that Mexico will be ready for the World Cup’s easy-peasy opener against Germany.

Two of the hottest players on the planet will be going head-to-head in Zurich as Portugal takes on Egypt – Cristiano Ronaldo v Mohamed Salah.

There are some truly heavyweight ties taking place in Europe with a possible early viewing of the World Cup final as Germany takes on Spain. A bit of a make-shift England team, without Harry Kane, is facing a rebuilding Netherlands who failed to make the World Cup, while France hosts Colombia.

Tune into the Locker Room at 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM where our panel of experts will be giving their early World Cup predictions.

March Madness and more from Naomi

The Miami Open sees the Round of 64 getting underway down in sultry South Florida. Milos Raonic and Juan Martin del Potro are the big hitters in action in the men’s bracket. Venus Williams leads the way for the US in the women’s bracket with a clash against Natalia Vikhlyantseva.

However, the biggest draw of the day will be Indian Wells-winner and rising star, Naomi Osaka taking on number four seed, Elina Svitolina.

In the heady world of college basketball, March Madness continues with the rest of the Sweet Sixteen pairings.

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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.