Shadow Scholar Syndicate: FWM 2019--Day One Recap

Your “Syndicate Hangover” is proudly presented by “Perrier”

Your friendly bookie remains more of a San Pellegrino man, but we’ll accord the hosts some respect for their second-rate club soda. Along with La Croix, it's an acceptable option when the only other alternative happens to be Seltzer Water.

Day 1: Recap

Bookie’s Stats—

Spread: 1-0

Straight up: 1-0-0

Allez les Bleaus! Vive la Republique! That’s how we start a football tournament, gentlemen. Trust your friendly bookie when he presages something spectacular. Great to hear from all of you as we watched the Gauloises Gals shake into high gear together. That’s how it’s done, Ma Cherie!

Told you this girl was crazy good. Bookie still misses her old hairstyle ; (

S.S.S. Tactical Breakdown

The hosts get us off to a nearly perfect start with a high-energy showcase sure to reverberate across the globe. What a fantastic promotion for how lively and entertaining women’s football can be!

We’ll take a look at their tactics and assign grades in our first breakdown segment.

Lineup—France—PROJECTED (4-3-3) (5/23/2019)

Vivianne Asseyi

Eugenie Le Sommer Valerie Gauvin

Amandine Henry Grace Geyoro

Gaëthine Thiney

S. Karchaoui W. Renard G. Mblock Bathy A. Majri

Sarah Bouhaddi

Lineup—France—Match One (4-3-3) (6/7/2019)

Eugenie Le Sommer Delphine Cascarino

Kadidiatou Diani

Amandine Henry Gaëthine Thiney

Amel Majri Elise Bussaglia Marion Torrent

Wendie Renard Griedge Mblock Bathy

Sarah Bouhaddi

Definitely wasn’t expecting Diacre to deploy a false-9 of all things. It might have been the case that Diani was meant to spend more time on the same axis as Lyon teammates Cascarino and Le Sommer. If that was indeed the plan, it obviously got scrapped rather early. Once the Lyon Ladies started establishing their presence on the flanks, Diani slotted back with ease, insinuating that she was likely intended to be a decoy all along.

In the bookie’s initial projection, he considered it a worthwhile experiment to shift Majri over to the right so that Karchaoui could get a look. It appears improbable that we'll witness such an experiment now. The back four starters must be set. Torrent torched the right Notre-Dame-style all evening while Majri supplied a few sparks herself. What? Too soon for that reference?

Very surprised to see Bussaglia get the start, but it makes perfect sense. She can work the role I initially foresaw Thiney fulfilling. Phenomenal stuff from Gäethine tonight. The 33-year-old still has the legs and ideas to keep this team flowing. Most summaries will focus on the goal-scorers, but this observer saw her cover an awful lot of ground in addition to supplying that sublime assist. She roved all over the pitch, very much exceeding my initial expectations. Bussaglia had her lapses, but her positioning works well overall.

Time to assign the grades. As you might expect, there’s not much criticism to be doled out. Subs Gauvin and Perisset were deemed factors. Geyoro came on too late to mark.

Grades—France (Match One)

Wendie Renard	A+
Delphine Cascarino	A+
Marion Torrent	A+
Gaëthine Thiney	A+
Amandine Henry	A+
Griedge Mbock-Bathy	A
Eugenie Le Sommer	A-
Eve Perisset	A-
Amel Majri	B+
Valerie Gauvin	B
Sarah Bouhaddi	B
Elise Bussaglia	B-
Kadidatou Diani	B-

Not a C-level player on the pitch. Le Sommer earns slight demerits for spurning that late opportunity. Bussaglia skewed a ranged effort herself and made a few poor choices in directing traffic out of the back. Loved the hustle from Gauvin and Diani, but they both could have shown a bit more. Majri made a few minor mistakes in defense to offset her fine set-piece delivery

Other than that, an almost flawless performance from the turbo-charged hosts. Way to get us off to a rollicking start, ladies! Vive le France!

Weighing in on VAR

Should Griedge Mbock-Bathy’s goal have been disallowed in the 30^th?

Oh, your friendly bookie had it all perfectly planned out in his head. The “S.S.S. Half-Assed Culture Minute” would make its triumphant return to the dailies with an esoteric review of the recently aired “Les Miserables” mini-series from PBS Masterpiece.

Dammit. Thought we’d work some French culture into our fandom. Looks like the controversy generated by the match obligates us cover this instead. The “VAR Debate Segment”, which your friendly bookie didn’t anticipate having to resurrect, returns instead.

Yes, she was a hair offside, but this may be one of those instances of the system being too perfect. It was completely borderline. You really couldn’t tell with the naked eye. Moreover, it was a lateral pass to a totally unmarked attacker. In the pre-VAR Days we would have all accepted that as a subjective 50-50 decision from the linesman, reveled in the goal, and moved on with the match. No one would have even considered it remotely worth recalling.

Hmmmm….not prepared to withdraw my full support for VAR just yet. It’s been well earned after plenty of examination in this space last Summer. I do however note that our beautiful game’s subjectivity deserves some protection. No need to strive for complete perfection.

“Riffs of the Day”—Day One

Reader: I give up on FIFA Opening Ceremonies. Why not just merge them with the Eurovision Song Contest?

Vicey: Bwahahahaha. Well played, 16-M. You should have seen the looks on the faces of Midwestern clientele when I asked the barkeep to turn the volume up. Quite the thing to troll a bunch of hungover St. Louis Blues fans by spamming Euro-trash.

Reader: Did I just see a woman nearly complete a bi-cycle smash?

Vicey: I can confirm Kadidatou Diani nearly pulled it off. It wasn’t whatever dangerously potent chemicals you’ve swimming in your skull, even more anonymous M.

Reader: That was astounding from Amandine Henry! Are they playing Katy Perry?

Vicey: Sadly, I can confirm that too. Popular tastes don’t necessarily jive with ours. Katy Perry’s “Roar” is perhaps a fitting stadium anthem for a rousing laser-struck goal by a female footballer. Would have gone with E-Rotic’s “Sexual Madness” myself, but I just don’t make those decisions.

Reader: Can we get a Korean match without the color commentator mentioning the height disadvantage at some point?

Vicey: My sentiments exactly, 35-M. I do the pedantic Asian corner analysis around here! To be fair, Wendie Renard was on the pitch today.

Reader: Why is there a sideline reporter?

Vicey: ….bookie has no answers. We’ve been through this so many times. Our poor football.

Reader: What happened to the UEFA Nations league?

Vicey: …….shit! I forgot. What can I say? It was pretty forgettable. Also wasn’t prepared to build in Euro 2020 qualifying lines in just yet. Tell you, what 23-M. I’ll hastily cobble some Saturday ones together for you now:

Saturday

Deutschland vs. Belarus