Men

In two seasons with Sunderland, Jermain Defoe has managed to save Sunderland from relegation twice. Goals are key to survival, and Defoe consistently provides them from the forward position. He’s been doing so for almost sixteen years — since his Premier League debut with West Ham United during the 2000-01 season.

Defoe’s greatest EPL return was 18 goals during the 2009-10 season. You’d expect, at 33 years of age, that his goalscoring ability would’ve plummeted since then. You’d be wrong.

Well, that was short-lived. Argentina manager Edgardo Bauza’s trip out to Barcelona has to be deemed a resounding success with the news that Lionel Messi has decided to reverse his decision to retire from international football.

Rather than keep his country in limbo, Messi now appears set to star for Argentina in their September World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Venezuela — an outcome that looked impossible at the end of June.

The eagerly anticipated return of Paul Pogba in Manchester United red will go on for at least another five days after the Football Association informed United that the midfielder must serve a one-match ban for a suspension he accumulated in Italy.

Pogba picked up two yellow cards in the Copa Italia, resulting in a one match ban that’s followed him to England. He was cautioned in consecutive matches, the semi-final against Internazionale and the final against Milan, resulting in an automatic one-match ban.

When Brazilian under-23 coach Rogerio Micale suggested that Neymar could one day quit the Brazilian national team due to a lack of respect, the parallels that could be drawn with Lionel Messi’s treatment and subsequent retirement from Argentina’s setup were almost too self-evident. 

Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Real Madrid training on Wednesday with his fitness still a major concern for Real supporters. Ronaldo injured his knee during Portugal’s Euro 2016 final victory over France, and there’s still no firm timetable for his return.

Jose Mourinho has unleashed a clear dig at Arsene Wenger and Jurgen Klopp by reacting to their comments surrounding Manchester United’s signing of Paul Pogba for an excess of £100 million.

Newly appointed Argentina boss Edgardo Bauza has arrived in Barcelona in an attempt to bring Lionel Messi back into the international fold. The most important task facing Bauza over the coming months is to entreat the former Argentine captain to reconsider his early retirement.

Chicharito Hernandez had a monster season last year, and he's having a monster pre-season to follow that. The Little Pea has two goals so far, including one Wednesday in Bayer Leverkusen's 2-1 friendly win against German fourth-division side Kickers Offenbach.

It was just a dink, but dinks count just the same as golazos, something that, as a poacher, Chicharito has seemingly staked his career on.