Servus Syndicate Members,
Your friendly bookie certainly doesn’t advocate taking your eyes off the Women’s World Cup; not with the tournament heating up the way it is. Make your plans for the watch parties, brothers. If the bracket falls the way it should, we may even be in for a Germany vs. USA final.
Keep up with affairs in Brasilia if you can. Africa also kicks off at the end of the week. If you’ve missed out on the opening round of the Copa America, you’ve missed out on some real cracking action. A strong debut for the hosts and a shocker from Columbia got us started. Three consecutive four-goal matches followed, including a gripping comeback from the invited Qataris.
Hard to select the best goal from the opening round. There’s been plenty of screamers in this up-tempo tournament. Everton’s laser against Bolivia. Roger Martinez’s tomahawk that sunk the Argentines. Almoez Ali’s lovely little curler. No…it has to be Edinson Cavani’s tenacious "trike."
Get to it quickly before they take it down!!
Cavani serves as guest this evening, even if he obviously does better work with his feet than his hands.
Let’s check in with matters deep down south.
Tuesday, June 18th
Bolivia vs. Peru
vs. 
Should be an easy rebound for Los Incas, who didn’t do terribly against the Vintinto even if they couldn’t stay onside. In the one boring match of the opening round, a bunch of over-the-top VAR breaks totally killed the flow. The Peruvians lined up exactly as expected and the Venezuelans pyramided them out of any chances.
They’ll win here, though bookie thinks it might be a sleepy one.
THE LINE: Peru +1 Goal
Brazil vs. Venezuela
vs. 
Tite put Firminho up top alone for much of that torrid first half. Booke’s of a mixed mind about David Neres Campo on the right. Hard to orchestrate much when Casemiro is the one responsible for feeding you, but he should have done better. Great to see Dani Alves back again. Ditto Willian. This Everton kid is going places.
Need to see much more from a Venezuelan side before even thinking about wagering on them. Less theatrics as well.
THE LINE: Brazil +2 Goals
Wednesday, June 19th
Colombia vs. Qatar
vs. 
Guess those injury reports concerning James Rodriguez were greatly exaggerated. He looked pretty damn peppy to me. The ironclad rule of someone on Los Cafeteros getting hurt within the first fifteen minutes of a match did hold, however, when Luis Muriel went down. Genius stuff from Queiroz placing Tessilo at left back. Even more ingenious reformatting into that 4-2-3-1 after the early injury. I stand corrected. This team can win.
My poor Maroon Vinyls got robbed on so many levels in that opening encounter. Bookie has neither the time nor the space to discuss it in greater depth. Great that they played such attractive football throughout, even after all those unfair bookings.
Yeah…they’re toast here. Forget it. Sorry I tipped them.
THE LINE: Columbia +2 Goals
Argentina vs. Paraguay
vs. 
Alright. Emergency “S.S.S. Tactical Breakdown”.
S.S.S. Tactical Breakdown Lineup—Argentina—PROJECTED (4-4-2) (6/13/2019)
Sergio Aguero Angel Di Maria
|
Leandro Paredes Lionel Messi
|
Roberto Pereya Marcos Acuna
|
Nicolas Tagliafico Ramiro F. Mori
|
Nicolas Otamendi Juan Foyth
|
Franco Armani
|
Lineup—Argentina—Match One (4-3-2-1) (6/15/2019)
Sergio Aguero
|
Angel Di Maria Lionel Messi
|
Leandro Paredes Giovani Lo Celso
|
Guido Rodriguez
|
N. Tagliafico N. Otamendi G. Pezzella R. Saravia
|
Franco Armani
|
This is hopeless. They’re just throwing whatever sparsely capped European league players they can find on that right side. I suppose Messi is supposed to be responsible for the defending too. Not that I have a better idea. There simply isn’t anyone else. Foyth and Acuna are equally inexperienced.
We saw Di Maria get subbed off at the half for more mobile winger Rodrigo de Paul. That helped a bit. Otamendi did well when called upon to press. The 67th minute “Guido for Guido” swap was totally useless. Still no Paulo Dybala or Lautaro Martinez. Might as well throw them up there now.
What do you have to lose, Scaloni? A draw here and you’re essentially eliminated…and that’s just what the bookie predicts.
THE LINE: Pick em’
Thursday, June 20th
Uruguay vs. Japan
vs. 
Was that a 3-5-2-1, Hajime? I’m not sure I want to know. A hard fought initial hour or so from the Japanese prospect squad. Highly unfair that they got piled on toward the end. I think I kind of like this Daiki Sugioka kid. Teruki Hara isn’t half bad either.
Anyway. We know how bad it’s going to be now….and it’s about to get a hell of a lot worse.
THE LINE: Uruguay +4 Goals
Thursday, June 21st
Ecuador vs. Chile
vs. 
Chi-chi-chi….no, not quite. I still don’t think this team’s very good. It took them nearly an hour to break down the Jap prospects and Arturo may be done.
They’ll prevail here, but not by much.
THE LINE: Chile +2 Goals
GENTLEMEN, ENTER YOUR WAGERS
