Your “Syndicate
Hangover” is proudly presented by “Renegade: Hammer & Sickle Imperial Stout”
Meh. It’s still
probably better than your local “Hipster IPA”
Day 9: Recap
Record—
Spread: 4-10
Straight up: 6-3-5
Hot
Girl Standings
Country
|
Tally
|
Games Played
|
Chile
|
39
|
4
|
Russia
|
28
|
3 (finished)
|
Mexico
|
28
|
4 (finished)*
|
Germany
|
16
|
4
|
Cameroon
|
15
|
3 (finished)
|
Portugal
|
9
|
4 (finished)*
|
Australia
|
4
|
3 (finished)
|
New Zealand
|
1
|
3 (finished)
|
Gracias, El-Tri. Sincere gratitude remains in order for your
dogged resilience. Whew! When Henrichs and later Werner sprung Goretzka for
those lethal first-time finishes in the 6th and 8th, We
all feared the worst. Were we all about to witness a brutal dismantling like
2014’s “7-1 Brazilian Bloodbath”, or 2016’s “7-0 Mexican Massacre”? Mercifully
not. The Aztecs keep up the pressure until the very end, never showing so much
as a hint of capitulation. Great play from them. It could have been much closer
were it not for some unfortunate luck. Bravo, Jugadoras! Muy bien!
Had the fixture ended in Genocidal Carnage it wouldn’t have
done the sport much good. If the German “Prospect Squad” can pick apart a
passionate group of talented veterans easier than Project Tower Lock, what are
we watching football for? Of course I’m proud of my Jungs and ALWAYS cheer for
them to win by the highest margin possible. That notwithstanding, neither the
players nor the fans cannot show any signs of “quit”, even in the face of the
seemingly most insurmountable of leads. The Beautiful Game is buttressed
chiefly by the rapacious passion of the leaders both on the pitch and in the
stands.
Your friendly bookie took some extra time to review the
tapes again. He’s overjoyed to report that there wasn’t any discernable
surrender on the Mexican Front throughout. If anything, Draxler and Rüdiger may
have been guilty of some cynical dives down the stretch.
Animos, Mexiko…particularly YOU, 132-M!
; ) ; )
LINEUP—Deutschland—Match
One (4-5-1)
Sandro Wagner
|
Julian Draxler Julian Brandt
|
Lars
Stindl
|
Leon Goretzka Sebastian Rudy
|
J. Hector S. Mustafi
A. Rüdiger J. Kimmich
|
Bernd
Leno
|
LINEUP—Deutschland—Match
Two (3-4-2-1)
Lars
Stindl
|
Julian Draxler Leon Goretzka
|
Jonas Hector
Joshua Kimmich
|
Emré Can Sebastian Rudy
|
Niklas Süle S. Mustafi M. Ginter
|
Marc André ter
Stegen
|
LINEUP—Deutschland—Match
Three (3-4-2-1)
Timo
Werner
|
Julian Draxler Kerem Demirbay
|
Marvin Plattenhardt Joshua
Kimmich
|
Emré Can Sebastian Rudy
|
Niklas Süle Antonio Rüdiger
Mattias Ginter
|
Marc André ter
Stegen
|
LINEUP—Deutschland—Match
Four (3-4-2-1)
Timo
Werner
|
Julian Draxler Lars Stindl
|
Jonas Hector
Benjamin Henrichs
|
Sebastian Rudy Leon Goretzka
|
A. Rüdiger M. Ginter
J. Kimmich
|
Marc André ter
Stegen
|
Impossible to argue with the effectiveness of this
arrangement. I was initially surprised to see Kimmich assigned to a more
traditional center-back position. Your friendly bookie’s curiosity lasted all
of six minutes. Henrichs can be every bit as deadly roaming up the flanks.
Stindl appears to have been used as a full decoy. Draxler less so, but those
two drew the defenders in so that either Goretzka or Rudy could sneak in to
unleash long-range efforts.
Naturally, it’s doubtful that Löw could have predicted just
how hungry Goretzka would be to lace first-time thrashers on target. That part
wasn’t necessarily in the script. The placement of Henrichs in Kimmich’s spot,
however, was quite deliberate. Whether Henrich was meant to be feeding Draxler,
Werner, Rudy, or Goretzka he was given a high-profile audition in the critical
German Role of “Roving Right Fullback”. Talk about passing with flying colors ;
)
Yes, yes. I know. The German Nationalmannschaft once more
boasts an “Embarrassment of Riches”. Before getting to the grades, I’d like to
politely remind everyone that my country’s team once more boasts an “Embarrassment
of Diversity”. We’ve delivered the tournament’s most ethnically diverse team…again.
; ) Before you sneer at the “Era of German Dominance” consider for a moment
that this “Era” isn’t really perpetuated by ethnic Germans. ; ) We’re even
better than the French or English at fielding a team of Immigrants. That’s how
we roll these days. ; )
A long-term project that I’ve much interest in concerns a
more comprehensive portrait of how footballers from Immigrant Backgrounds have
re-shaped European Football in the Modern Age. Hell, I could spend an entire
month discussing the ones who have played for the German Nationalmannschaft
alone. For now, here’s a list of heritages from this Summer’s “Prospect Squad”
- Bernd Leno (Russia)
- Shkodran Mustafi (Turkey) - Kerem Demirbay (Turkey) - Emré Can (Turkey)
- Amin Younes (Lebanon)
- Benjamin Henrichs (Ghana)
- Antonio Rüdiger (Sierra Leone)
In a semi-interesting side note, I was almost positive that
Leon Goretzka was every bit as Polish as Mirsolav Klose, Tim Borowski or Lucas
Podolski. Evidently not. He’s as Bochum as it gets!
GRADES—Deutschland
(Match One)
Joshua Kimmich
|
A+
|
Timo Werner
|
A+
|
Julian
|
A
|
Leon Goretzka
|
A
|
Sebastian Rudy
|
A
|
Lars Stindl
|
A
|
Julian Brandt
|
A-
|
Antonio Rüdiger
|
B+
|
Niklas Süle
|
B
|
Jonas Hector
|
B
|
Bernd Leno
|
B
|
Sandro Wagner
|
B-
|
Shkodran Mustafi
|
C
|
Emre Can
|
D
|
GRADES—Deutschland
(Match Two)
Marc Andre ter Stegen
|
A+
|
Joshua Kimmich
|
A
|
Emré Can
|
A
|
Sebastian Rudy
|
A
|
Leon Goretzka
|
A
|
Lars Stindl
|
A-
|
Matthias Ginter
|
B+
|
Emre Can
|
B+
|
Julian Draxler
|
B
|
Jonas Hector
|
B
|
Niklas Süle
|
C+
|
Shkodran Mustafi
|
F
|
GRADES—Deutschland
(Match Three)
Benjamin Henrichs
|
A+
|
Amin Younes
|
A+
|
Kerem Demirbay
|
A+
|
Timo Werner
|
A+
|
Marvin Plattenhardt
|
A
|
Emré Can
|
A
|
Julian Draxler
|
A
|
Joshua Kimmich
|
A
|
Matthias Ginter
|
A
|
Marc Andre ter Stegen
|
B+
|
Julian Brandt
|
B
|
Niklas Süle
|
B
|
Sebastian Rudy
|
B-
|
Antonio Rüdiger
|
B-
|
GRADES—Deutschland
(Match Four)
Leon Goretzka
|
A+
|
Amin Younes
|
A+
|
Timo Werner
|
A
|
Jonas Hector
|
A
|
Matthias Ginter
|
A
|
Benjamin Henrichs
|
A
|
Marc André ter Stegen
|
A
|
Julian Braxler
|
A-
|
Emré Can
|
A-
|
Sebastian Rudy
|
B+
|
Joshua Kimmich
|
B+
|
Larts Stindl
|
B+
|
Julian Brandt
|
B
|
Antonio Rüdiger
|
C+
|
With only the “Goodbyes and Championship Pick” section left
to write, we find ourselves at the end of “Football Talk”. This constitutes our
final chance to make personnel speculations.
Your friendly bookie possesses no “Crystal Ball”. I cannot
predict with any accuracy how the upcoming Club Season will unfold. Form
patches can be as mercurial as a menopausal woman’s mood. Injuries are
impossible to predict. The multi-billion-dollar transfer market could render
all of this conjecture moot with a few unanticipated strokes of an exorbitantly
expensive “Mont Blanc” pen.
It still might prove fun to assign “Tournament Grades” and take
a few blind stabs at the look of next Summer’s Roster.
Let us “theorize”
Player
|
Tournament
Grade
|
Julian Draxler
|
A+
|
Marc Andre ter-stegen
|
A+
|
Joshua Kimmich
|
A+
|
Leon Goretzka
|
A+
|
Timo Werner
|
A+
|
Amin Younes
|
A+
|
Benjamin Henrichs
|
A+
|
Lars Stindl
|
A
|
Kerem Demirbay
|
A
|
Jonas Hector
|
A
|
Matthias Ginter
|
A
|
Marvin Plattenhardt
|
A
|
Sebastian Rudy
|
A
|
Julian Brandt
|
B+
|
Antonio Rüdiger
|
B-
|
Shkodran Mustafi
|
D
|
Antonio Rüdiger
|
C+
|
Niklas Süle
|
C
|
Emré Can
|
C
|
Sandro Wagner
|
D
|
Bernd Leno
|
D
|
Kevin Trapp
|
N/A
|
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
|
LINEUP—Mexico—Match
Three (4-3-3)
Carlos Vela Chicharito Hirving Lozano
|
Andres Guardado Jonathan dos Santos
|
Hector
Herrera
|
Miguel Layun Diego Reyes
|
Hector Moreno Nestor Araujo
|
Guillermo Ochoa
|
LINEUP—Mexico—Match
Four (4-3-3)
Raul Jimenez Chicharito Javier Aquino
|
Giovanni dos Santos Jonathan dos Santos
|
Hector Herrera
|
Miguel Layun Oswaldo Alanis
|
Nestor Araujo Hector Moreno
|
Guillermo Ochoa
|
Expected much more from Jimenez and Aquino up front.
Guardado was clearly and obviously missed. Alanis….did everything he could.
Switching Araujo and Moreno was the worst idea since those “No Hay Excusas”
videos.
Osorio and his T-Shirts backfired.
“Zero Excuses”?
Really?
“Zero Points”.
Sorry ; (
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—Mexico
(Match Three)
Hirving Lozano
|
A+
|
Javier Aquino
|
A
|
Luis Reyes
|
A
|
Carlos Vela
|
A
|
Miguel Layun
|
A
|
Jonathan dos Santos
|
A
|
Javier Hernandez
|
A-
|
Guillermo Ochoa
|
B+
|
Hector Herrera
|
B
|
Andres Guardado
|
B-
|
Jonathan dos Santos
|
C+
|
Hector Moreno
|
C
|
Nestor Araujo
|
C
|
GRADES—Mexico
(Match Four)
Raul Jimenez
|
A
|
Marco Fabian
|
A
|
Rafael Marquez
|
A
|
Giovanni dos Santos
|
B+
|
Javier Hernandez
|
B
|
Hirving Lozano
|
B
|
Jonathan dos Santos
|
B-
|
Hector Herrera
|
C+
|
Miguel Layun
|
C+
|
Hector Moreno
|
C
|
Oswaldo Alanis
|
C
|
Nestor Araujo
|
D
|
Guillermo Ochoa
|
D
|
Javier Aquino
|
D-
|
“Riffs
of the Day”—Day Nine
Reader: I’ve made the adjustments to the “letter”. Please read them.
Vicey:
No one knows what we’re talking about. A Nameless and Numberless Syndicate
Member has something special in store for all of us. Working together for a
change, two ghostwriters will produce something worthwhile for the next
generation. We will succeed. Just you watch ; )
