Your “Syndicate
Hangover” is proudly presented by “Das Bier”
Day 21: Recap
Record—
Spread: 18-31
Straight up: 26-14-9
Hot
Girl Standings
Country
|
Tally
|
Games Played
|
France
|
54
|
5
|
Spain
|
45
|
4 (finished)
|
Poland
|
44
|
5 (finished)
|
Iceland
|
43
|
5 (finished)
|
Wales
|
42
|
6 (finished)
|
Italy
|
40
|
5 (finished)
|
Germany
|
39
|
5
|
Republic of Ireland
|
35
|
4 (finished)
|
Croatia
|
33
|
4 (finished)
|
Belgium
|
32
|
5 (finished)
|
Switzerland
|
31
|
4 (finished)
|
Portugal
|
29
|
6
|
Northern Ireland
|
28
|
4 (finished)
|
England
|
26
|
4 (finished)
|
Slovakia
|
25
|
4 (finished)
|
Hungary
|
24
|
4 (finished)
|
Turkey
|
24
|
3 (finished)
|
Albania
|
23
|
3 (finished)
|
Romania
|
21
|
3 (finished)
|
Austria
|
19
|
3 (finished)
|
Sweden
|
18
|
3 (finished)
|
Russia
|
16
|
3 (finished)
|
Czech Republic
|
16
|
3 (finished)
|
The Ukraine
|
11
|
3 (finished)
|
‘
It unfolded as one might expect. Absolutely loved the
undeterred hasty hustle from Bale down the stretch. Full credit to him. He
obstinately refused to take his foot off the gas even when many members of his
team resigned themselves to defeat. The Navigators simply had too much talent
up front. One foresaw that the depleted Welsh Line would have some inevitable
mental lapses, allowing either C. Ronaldo or Nani to slip in a moment of magic.
This bookie certainly didn’t foresee a tally for BOTH of them,
nor did he foresee a super slick link-up BETWEEN them. In any event, the skill
of Nani and C. Ronaldo governed the setting of today’s line. One somehow knew
that their combined talent on the ball would manifest itself at some point. As
it so happened, they hooked-up to deliver the torpedoed sucker punch that would
definitively sink the tournament’s last Cinderella. Straight into the Solar
Plexus. Goodbye, dream.
Let’s analyze the Lineups:
Portugal—Match
Six—PROJECTED (4-3-1-2)
C.
Ronaldo Nani
|
Renato Sanchez
|
Joao Moutinho Joao Mario
|
Danielo
|
Cedric Jose Fonte Pepe Eliseu
|
Rui Patricio
|
Portugal—Match
Six—Actual (4-3-1-2)
C.
Ronaldo Nani
|
Renato Sanchez
|
Adrien Joao Mario
|
Danielo
|
R. Guerreiro Jose Fonte Bruno Alves Cedric
|
Rui Patricio
|
Got it more or less right, not taking into account Pepe’s
injury or Eliseu’s form. Renato Sanchez was given the chance to work the
short-striker role. Santos dusted off Danielo to serve in place of the
suspended William Carvalho. The Welsh did generate their fair share of chances
against the new-look back four. It was great to see Bruno Alves again and he
did his bit in terms of making a few things happen up front. I’d still advocate
putting Cedric back on the left and Eliseu back on the right if the Navigators
wish to stand tall in the final. There remain holes in the back, all too easily
exploitable by either the French or Germans.
Wales—Match
Six—PROJECTED (5-4-1 )
Gareth Bale
|
Hal Robson Kanu
|
J. Williams J. Ledley J. Allen
|
C. Gunther J. Chester J. Collins N. Talyor
|
Ashley Williams
|
Wayne Hennessey
|
Wales—Match
Six—ACTUAL (3-5-2)
Gareth Bale Hal Robson Kanu
|
Andy King Joe Ledley Joe Allen
|
Neil Taylor Chris Gunther
|
Ashley Williams James Chester
|
James Collins
|
Wayne Hennessey
|
The grappled with the losses of Aaron Ramsey and Ben Davies
much in the way I expected, just not quite in the tactical manner that I
expected. Kanu fulfilled more of a lead striker role with Bale slightly behind.
Leicester City’s Andy King got the nod over Johnny Williams on the left. Taylor
and Gunther were given the green light as offensive midfielders. Perhaps most
importantly, James Collins was reactivated in a role I never envisioned him
playing.
Seriously? The washed up old man who signs for all the
bottom-feeding Premiership Clubs as the last line of defense in front of
Hennessey? NO!! Stupid Move! He looked gassed the entire time. Ashley Williams
earned that role! Gary Speed would have done it differently.
That provides us with a nice segue into the grades.
GRADES—Wales
(Match Six)
Gareth Bale
|
A+
|
Andy King
|
A
|
Wayne Hennesey
|
A-
|
Johnny Williams
|
A-
|
Sam Vokes
|
B+
|
Ashley Williams
|
B
|
Hal Robson-Kanu
|
B-
|
Joe Allen
|
B-
|
Simon Church
|
C+
|
Joe Ledley
|
C-
|
Chris Gunther
|
D
|
James Chester
|
D-
|
Neil Taylor
|
D-
|
James Collins
|
F
|
Poor match. Poor marks. Bad day for
“Balding-Bearded-One” like James Collins
and Joe Ledley. I’ll give Chris Coleman a D- as well for his selection.
GRADES—Portugal
(Match Six)
Cristiano Ronaldo
|
A+
|
Nani
|
A+
|
Renato Sanchez
|
A
|
Joao Moutinho
|
A
|
Danielo
|
A
|
Rui Patricio
|
A
|
Cedric
|
B
|
Jose Fonte
|
B
|
Bruno Alves
|
B
|
Raphael Guerreiro
|
B-
|
Joao Mario
|
B-
|
Adrien Silva
|
C+
|
Andre Gomez
|
C
|
The back line needs some work. The Navigators aren’t
capturing the European Crown like this. Silva and Gomez should be shelved as
well.
“Riffs
of the Day”—Day Twenty-One
Reader:
You cracked the code. Women need meadows. Men need football.
Vicey:
ZING….Syndicate Member 111-M!
Okay…we’ve
fucked the shit out of this riff. The only thing I can add at this point is
that we’re all going to hell. Yes indeed. We’re all going to hell. Every Summer
Syndicate comes down to this. We arrive at a point when your friendly bookie
must concede that we’re all going to hell. Got that?
WE’RE
ALL GOING TO HELL!
A
crucial difference between the civilized world and that of the terrorist
primitives is that those of us living in the Western World prefer to laugh,
reminisce, and casually riff about how we’re all going to hell.
You
poor bastards think you’re going to Paradise. What if there is no Paradise? For
the record, there really isn’t one. Oops. Looks like you’ll just have to cease
to exist. Good luck and good riddance.
Reader:
Election Blog this year?
Vicey:
An emphatic “No”. I’m simply not feeling it this year, brother. I have to sit
this cycle out. This former “Political Junkie” is officially retired. I still
have hope for American Democracy. The results of the Presidential Election are
a forgone conclusion. I’ll closely watch the House and Senate contests to see
if Americans are still interested in making a salient point.
I
have my doubts.
DAY TWENTY-TWO—PREVIEW
France vs. Deutschland
vs. 
This is going to be such a fantastic fixture! Two great
teams! Two great tactical lineups! We’re ALL winners already. A bomb won’t go
off tomorrow. It’s not happening. That’s why we’re all winners.
The terrorist attacks in Paris back in November 2015
literally interrupted a friendly match between these two nations. Those of us
watching on television heard the detonation whilst viewing. As we scoured news
sites attempting to figure out what had happened, the match was completed and
the fans kept in the stands for safety reasons.
Your friendly bookie will never forget that day. He was so
incensed by the cowardly actions of the uncivilized that he went on social
media that very evening to proclaim loudly and proudly that he believed the
Prophet Mohammed regularly performed fellatio on pigs.
I’ll proudly stand by that statement. The pathetic efforts
by uncivilized primitives to disrupt our way of life are pathetic beyond
belief. WE’RE TOO BIG!! You can’t take us down. You can kill innocents, but you
won’t stop us from living our lives. Your mission is pointless. You took down
the World Trade Center Towers…but our credit cards still worked the next day.
You blew up a few cafés, but we went right on playing football.
You won’t stop us. You can’t stop us. It may be hard for
pastoral people to understand the scope of the world, but you might as well get
started.
Here’s Lesson #1:
WE’RE TOO BIG! Stop killing innocents and start building a
college fund for your children. You have the power to pass something better on
to the next generation. Randomly killing members of this one is as pointless as
wishing you had a bigger dick.
Whew. Back to the game. The news that Bastian Schweinsteiger
will start and wear the captain’s armband forces me to once again re-project
the lineup.
LINEUP—Deutschland
(Match Six)—PROJECTED—4-4-2
(7/3/2016)
Mario Gomez Mario Götze
|
Meshut Özil Thomas Müller
|
Toni Kroos Sami Khedira
|
Jonas Hector Joshua Kimmich
|
Emre Can Jerome Boateng
|
Manuel Neuer
|
LINEUP—Deutschland
(Match Six)—PROJECTED—4-3-3
(7/4/2016)
Julian Draxler Mario Götze Thomas
Müller
|
Meshut Özil Toni Kroos
|
Andre Schürrle
|
Jonas Hector Joshua Kimmich
|
Emre Can Jerome Boateng
|
Manuel Neuer
|
LINEUP—Deutschland
(Match Six)—PROJECTED—4-3-3
(7/4/2016)
Julian Draxler Mario Götze Thomas
Müller
|
Meshut Özil Toni Kroos
|
Andre Schürrle
|
Jonas Hector Joshua Kimmich
|
Emre Can Jerome Boateng
|
Manuel Neuer
|
LINEUP—Deutschland
(Match Six)—PROJECTED—4-4-2
(7/6/2016)
Julian Draxler Thomas Müller
|
Meshut Özil Toni Kroos
|
Mario Götze Bastian Schweinsteiger
|
Jonas Hector Joshua Kimmich
|
Emre Can Jerome Boateng
|
Manuel Neuer
|
THE
LINE: Die Nationalmannschaft +1 Goal (holding)
