Shadow Scholar Syndicate: FWM 2019--Day Seven 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 7: Recap

Bookie’s Stats—

Spread: 8-9

Straight up: 12-4-1

Easy there, Aussie contingent. It was hardly the most convincing victory. Ah, hell with it. We’ll award you the day. Nice comeback. Fun match.

Sam Kerr told all us doubters to “suck it”. Who does she think she is? Maradona circa 2009?

S.S.S. Tactical Breakdown

Really liking this Australia vs. Brazil rivalry that’s developing. You guys still remember that 3-2 thriller in the 2007 Quarterfinals? The 2011 group stage match might have been hardly worth remembering, but the 2015 Round-of-16 encounter and the 2016 Olympic shootout were remarkably entertaining. Today’s five-goal fixture was top rate, even if two of the tallies weren’t run-of-play nets

We’ll take a look at both these teams and assess their “sitch”. Are the Matildas back in the race? Should we start taking the Samba Queens seriously? All shall be revealed once the bookie consults his notes.

Lineup—Australia—Match One (5-4-1) (6/9/2019)

Samantha Kerr

Caitlin Foord Hayley Raso

Chloe Logzaro Tameka Yallop

Ellie Carpenter Emily van Egmond Steph Catley

C. Polkinghorne A. Kennedy

Lydia Williams

Lineup—Australia—Match Two (5-4-1) (6/13/2019)

Samantha Kerr

Caitlin Foord Emily Gielnik

Chloe Logzaro Tameka Yallop

E. Kellond-Knight Emily van Egmond Ellie Carpenter

Steph Catley Alana Kennedy

Lydia Williams

I mostly saw the same arrangement with a bit of defensive shuffling. Looks like Milicic was serious about sticking with his system. He didn’t have much of a choice but to drop Polkinghorne. Catley and Carpenter weren’t as adroit in handling all the swapping as one might of liked. I’m rather disappointed not to see Steph and Eliie as the fullbacks with Elise Kellond Knight in central midfield as I had in my original projection. Always nice to see Emily Gielnik still playing football, but she likely shouldn’t have been on the pitch today. No reason to pull Raso. Goddamn Aussies never seem to get it straight.

Anyway, let’s talk about how deplorably bad this predictably turned out. More miscues during the opening minutes of play. Vadao didn’t have to make a single mark on his white board to figure out how to clog this. A straightforward 4-1-4-1 sufficed. It looked like Thaisa, Debhina, Formiga, and Andressa Alves in charge of smothering Logzaro, Yallop and van Egmond. Gielnik and Foord tried to press high, but there was no one to feed them.

Elise couldn’t build the attack out of the back as she just didn’t match up well with anyone on the Brazilian right. Not the strongest take down from her on the penalty, but it was ultimately the right call. More broken choppy crap for the duration of the half. Cately, Carpenter, and Knight van Egmond were all culpable on that second goal. Could it be that they were in the wrong place?

Bookie has lavish praise for that wonderful Yallop-Logzaro-Foord goal at the end of the second half as well as Logzaro’s own sumptuous strike in the 58^th. An overall much improved performance is reflected in the grades. Obviously, Hayley Raso is the only sub who factored in.

Grades—Australia (Match Two)

Chloe Logzaro	A+
Kristi Yallop	A
Hayley Raso	A
Emily van Egmond	A
Caitlin Foord	A
Lydia Williams	A
Ellie Carpenter	B+
Alanna Kennedy	B
Samantha Kerr	B-
Steph Catley	C+
Elise Kellond-Knight	C-
Emily Gielnik	D

Gratitude to 78-M for noting that I forgot to assign Emily van Egmond a grade in last round’s analysis. Katrina Gorry somehow got graded twice. In the bookie’s defense, she might as well have not been on the pitch against Italy. I don’t believe her name was even called once. I totally forgot about her until she started looking lively later in the first half of this one.

Very lucky escape for the Matildas today. Kerr again didn’t look like one of the best players in the world. Grrr…I observed her attempting a dive again. The own-goal highlighted one instance in which she had trouble staying onside. I counted many more.

Surely they’ve qualified for the knockouts now with only Jamaica left to beat. I still don’t like Milicic’s system. I still don’t think this team is a contender anymore.

Lineup—Brazil—PROJECTED (4-2-1-3) (5/28/2019)

Andressa Debhina Marta

Ludmila

Geyse Andressinha

Tamires L. Santos

Erika Monica

Aline Reis

Lineup—Brazil—Match One (4-4-2) (6/9/2019)

Cristiane Beatriz

Debhina Andressa

Formiga Thaissa

Tamires L. Santos

Kathleen Monica

Barbara

Lineup—Brazil—Match Two (4-4-2) (6/13/2019)

Marta Cristiane

Debhina Andressa

Formiga Thaissa

Tamires L. Santos

Kathleen Monica

Barbara

Alright. Let’s see. Marta clearly isn’t fully fit yet or she wouldn’t have been subbed off at the half. Cristiane seems to have enough legs left to go hard for 60-75 minutes before Vadao pulls her. Ludmilla and Luana were pretty plain in their debuts in midfield, meaning (gasp) they’ll have difficulty finding a replacement for Formiga in midfield. That sentence got written. Monica wouldn’t have made that mistake four years ago and Barbara can’t seem to stop making mistakes of her own.

Thaisa, Kathleen, and Leticia Santos have looked consistently good and that’s about it. Nah. No sense tracking this team too deeply. They may not earn another point.

“Riffs of the Day”—Day Seven

Reader: You seem to be missing wrds often, Vcey.

Vicey: Yawn. You seem to be missing a vowel, 145-M. Tournament writers have to work ultra-fast. What’s your excuse?

Reader: All of these “girl-hug celebrations” are leaving me bothered.

Vicey: Thank goodness there’s some normal guys left in this world, 111-M. We have what you might describe as “classic tastes”. Everyone else appears to be into incest.

Reader: Hayley Raso’s ribbon = +2 agility, +4 dexterity

Vicey: Bwahahahaha! And….ZING…6-M. Good catch. Love that ribbon.

DAY EIGHT--PREVIEW

Japan vs. Scotland

vs.

71-M wrote in to ask if this really constituted an “Upset Special”. I admit it’s kind of a push, seeing as how the Scottish girls play with so much heart and the Japanese appear to be playing backwards. Look, it’s the best you’re going to get this round.

THE LINE: Scotland +1 Goal (holding)

Italy vs. Jamaica