Shadow Scholar Syndicate: CC 2017--Day Four Recap

Your “Syndicate Hangover” is proudly presented by “Renegade: Hammer & Sickle Imperial Stout”

Meh. It’s still probably better than your local “Hipster IPA”

Day 4: Recap

Record—

Spread: 2-4

Straight up: 4-1-1

Hot Girl Standings

Country	Tally	Games Played
Russia	19	2
Mexico	14	2
Portugal	3	2
Cameroon	3	1
Chile	2	1
Australia	1	1
Germany	1	1
New Zealand	0	2

Hello Chicas! Vamos, Chicas! Now that’s more like it ;) Say what you will about the controversies on the field, the Mexican fans came through with a top-class showing. Juan Carlos Osorio’s clear mouthing of the word “motherfucker!” following Wood’s play-on threatened to derail proceedings. We all could have done without that combative “Cajones Melee” at the start of injury time. Give the fans credit where credit is due. They dressed up in wonderfully irreverent outfits. They classily refrained from a familiar obscene football chant that we’ve all heard before. They swayed with their cell-phone flashlights to sing a familiar song in perfect harmony and unison.

Depthless critics of the “Hot Girl Standings” miss the point. It isn’t really about the cuties in the crowd….though that happens to be an eminently enjoyable part of televised football that we all enjoy. ; ) It’s really about the fans, flags, and colors. All the raven-haired Latina Lovlies in the audience today were no match for the guy wearing the Giant “Pea-Pod Suit”. Well done, Hermano. ; )

Hey ho, the Ruskies put on a show. It took them some time to get moving, but they defied expectations with some courageous football in the latter stages of the second 45. That’s how ‘s done, lads. Loved the sprints and combinations. The Navigators were lucky to escape with a victory as the “Golden Eagles” eventually figured out a way of generating well-executed forward momentum. I’ll stop short of calling it a “spectacle” or an “exhibition”. Let’s settle for “impressive”. Your friendly bookie adjusts his lean ; )

LINEUP—Russia—Match One (5-3-2)

Dmitry Poloz Fyodor Smolov

Alexsandr Golovin Aleksandr Yerokhin

Denis Glushakov

Yuri Zhirkov Alexsandr Samedov

F. Kudrayashov V. Vasin G. Dzhikiya

Igor Akinfeev

LINEUP—Russia—Match Two (5-4-1)

Fyodor Smolov

Yuri Zhirkov Alexsandr Samedov

Alexasandr Golovin Denis Glushakov

Dimitri Kombarov Roman Shishkin

F. Kudrayashov V. Vasin G. Dzhikiya

Igor Akinfeev

The same back three with some significant changes up front. Samedov and Zhirkov go further upfield. Golovin and Glushakov drop back to work in tandem Experienced veteran Kombaov directs as much traffic as he can from a Left Wing Back Position.

The problem with this system, as we saw during the Second Half Push, is that it’s overly-reliant on cutbacks from the hard-working wingers. Even the elementary defensive system can cancel out diagonal cutbacks. For all the excitement, we didn’t really get any actual legitimate attempts on goal.

LINEUP—Portugal—Match One (4-4-2)

C. Ronaldo Nani

A. Gomez R. Quaresma

J. Moutinho W. Carvalho

R. Guerreiro Cedric Soares

Pepe Jose Fonte

Rui Patricio

LINEUP—Portugal—Match Two (4-4-2)

Andre Silva Cristiano Ronaldo

Andre Gomez Bernardo Silva

Adrien Silva William Carvalho

Cedric Soares Raphael Geuerreiro

Pepe Bruno Alves

Rui Patricio

Same system with some significant tweaks. Note that the lateral positioning of most players constitutes your friendly bookie’s “best guess”. It certainly looked like Ronaldo played on the right. He scored his header from there. He popped up on the left just as often, however. Likewise, I’m just guessing that Soares and Guerreiro switched fields. Mounting a counter-argument shouldn’t prove hard given what we witnessed today.

Most of the defensive third faltered in the Final Stage of today’s match. Fonte should start next time.

LINEUP—Mexico—Match One (4-3-3)

Raul Jimenez Chicharito Carlos Vela

Andres Guardado Jonathan dos Santos

Hector Herrera

Miguel Layun Carlos Salcedo

Hector Moreno Diego Reyes

Guillermo Ochoa

LINEUP—Mexico—Match Two (3-4-3)

Raul Jimenez

Oribe Peralta Jürgen Damm

Javier Aquino Giovanni dos Santos

Marco Fabian Diego Reyes

O. Alanis Nestor Arajuo Carlos Salcedo

Alfredo Talavera

EIGHT changes. Good lord. We were all prepared to chastise Osori until his eleven came back from the brink to show us what it’s all about. Peralta and Jimenez played well. Aquino supplies unequivocal tenacity. Jimenez, Reyes, Fabian, and Damm have what it takes to make it to the next level.

Nice experimentation, Juan Carlos ; )

LINEUP—New Zealand—Match One (5-3-2)

Marco Rojas Chris Wood

Ryan Thomas Kosta Barbarouses

Michael McGlinchey

Deklan Wynne Kip Colvey

Michael Boxall A. Durante Tommy Smith

Stefan Marinovic

LINEUP—New Zealand—Match Two (5-3-2)

Marco Rojas Chris Wood

Ryan Thomas Clayton Lewis

Michael McGlinchey

Deklan Wynne Dane Ingham

A. Durante Tommy Smith

Stefan Marinovic

Zzzzzzzzz….I could think of something to write here…or I could just go right on with my plans for the evening.

GRADES—Russia (Match One)

Igor Akinfeev	A+
Alexsandr Samedov	A
Fyodor Smolov	A
Viktor Vasin	A
Fyodor Kudryashov	A-
Denis Glushakov	B+
Geori Dzhikaya	B
Dmitri Tarasov	B
Yuri Zhirkov	B-
Alexandr Yerokhin	C+
Alexsandr Bukharov	C+
Alexsandr Golovin	C
Dmitry Poloz	C

GRADES—Russia (Match Two)

Igor Akinfeev	A+
Fyodor Smolov	A
Alexsandr Golovin	A
Dmitri Kombarov	A
Alexsandr Samedov	A-
Dmitry Poloz	A-
Alexsandr Yerokhin	B+
Alexsandr Bukharov	B
Yuri Zhirkov	B
Denis Glushakov	B-
Viktor Vasin	B-
Fyodor Kudryashov	C+
Georgi Dzhikiya	C
Roman Shishkin	C

GRADES—Portugal (Match One)

Cristiano Ronaldo	A+
Ricardo Quaresma	A+
Cedric Soares	A+
Gelson Martins	A
Nani	B+
William Carvalho	B
Andre Silva	B
Andre Gomez	B
Pepe	B-
Rui Patricio	B-
Adrien Silva	B-
Jose Fonte	B-
Raphael Guerreiro	C+
Joao Moutinho	C+

GRADES—Portugal (Match Two)

Bernardo Silva	A+
Eliseu	A
Cristiano Ronaldo	A
Rui Patricio	A
Cedric Soares	A
William Carvalho	A
Bruno Alves	A
Adrien Silva	B+
Andre Gomez	B+
Andre Silva	B-
Gelson Martins	C+
Raphael Guerrerio	C
Pepe	C-

GRADES—Mexico (Match One)

Carlos Vela	A+
Javier Hernandez	A+
Hector Moreno	A
Jonathan dos Santos	A
Raul Jimenez	A
Miguel Layun	A-
Giovanni dos Santos	B+
Diego Reyes	B
Guillermo Ochoa	B
Jonathan dos Santos	B
Nestor Araujo	B-
Hector Moreno	C+
Carlos Salcedo	C

GRADES—Mexico (Match Two)

Raul Jimenez	A+
Alfredo Talavera	A+
Javier Aquino	A+
Oribe Peralta	A
Jürgen Damm	A
Hector Moreno	A
Giovanni dos Santos	B+
Hector Herrera	B
Marco Fabian	B-
Rafael Marquez	B-
Diego Reyes	C+
Nestor Araujo	C
Oswaldo Alanis	C

GRADES—New Zealand (Match One)

Stefan Marinovic	A
Marco Rojas	A
Ryan Thomas	A-
Tommy Smith	B+
Shane Smeltz	B
Chris Wood	B
Kosta Babarouses	B
Andrew Durante	C
Bill Tuiloma	C
Michael McGlinchey	C-
Kip Colvey	C-
Monty Patterson	C-
Deklan Wynne	D
Michael Boxall	F

GRADES—New Zealand (Match Two)

Chris Wood	A
Monty Patterson	A
Ryan Thomas	A
Tommy Smith	A-
Stefan Marinovic	A-
Michael McGlinchey	B
Kosta Babarouses	B
Bill Tuiloma	B
Clayton Lewis	C+
Marco Rojas	C
Deklan Wynne	C-
Andrew Durante	D
Dane Ingham	D
Michael Boxall	F

“Riffs of the Day”—Day Four

Reader: “The 33” sucked. I want my $7.95 back, Vicey.

Image result for deepwater horizon movie small

Vicey: Forgive me if I found a cinematic adaptation of a TRUE STORY to be a worthwhile use of my time. Naturally, the liberties that Hollywood takes with any true story are subject to criticism. I admitted as much in the early stages of the “write up”. Don’t assume that I’m ill-prepared to defend Adaptation Movies. I’ve been defending 1999’s “The Insider” as the Greatest Movie of All-Time for nearly two decades.

Now shut up…or I’ll unleash a twelve-page-essay on how awesome “Deepwater Horizon” was. I’m serious!

Reader: VAR strikes again….doing just what you said you didn’t want it to.

Vicey: Hahahaha. Luckily, I’m well-versed in “Triple Negatives”. Today’s VAR incident pissed me off beyond belief. Gassama should have shown a Straight Red to Reyes for his flagrant professional foul on a what would have surely developed into a scoring chance. The Melee afterward doesn’t concern me. What doesn’t screw with the game is the FOUR MINUTE DELAY that took place before a potentially game-altering set piece. The replay didn’t even matter in the final analysis as no additional bookings resulted from the review. We’ve got to get this sorted ort.

DAY FIVE--PREVIEW

Cameroon vs. Australia