Servus Syndicate Members,
Having shed the small-time countries, it’s time to get set for what should prove a very lively knockout round. Bookie can't say he’s all that upset about the programs we’ve waived goodbye to.
After some rumination, I think the Scots ultimately deserved elimination. They got screwed on the call, but the ref was absolutely within her rights to start play with that sub coming on. She had already doled out three time-wasting yellows. Enough was enough.
Time to shed eight more countries en-route to an even more titillating quarterfinal phase. As you’ll see below, bookie only has one major upset to prognosticate. That may be a bit too conservative given tournament football’s ability to surprise. Express your differing opinions with your wallets…or send in some riffs.
We need a guest and the bookie needs to rant a bit. What’s up with German legend Celia Okoyino da Mbabi (or Celia Sasic if you prefer) these days? Someone from the European contingent please tell me she’s doing some broadcast work! Your friendly bookie likes the American broadcast commentary team well enough, but wishes they had at least one other European besides Arianna Hingst on the panel.
I forgive you, Celia. If you wanted to retire from football and do the baby-makin’ thing I guess that’s okay. Just don’t disappear forever!
Saturday, June 22nd
Deutschland vs. Nigeria
vs. 
Your friendly bookie finds himself concerned here as Dennerby’s girls really played an excellent match against the hosts. There’s also the matter of Voss-Tecklenburg’s unexciting tactical arrangement, covered at length in the Day Eleven Recap. It should still prove a smooth victory given that the Super Falcons are missing both Rita Chikwelu and Ngozi Ebere on double-yellow suspensions.
If there was one area of glaring concern for the Nigerians heading into this tournament, it was that back four, which now got significantly thinner. Bookie addresses the absence by flipping Okeke and starting Michael. Dennerby may also move Ohale out wide. Either way they can expect to get torched by the likes of Gwinn, Huth, and Däbritz.
Even if Marozsan is available, it would be best if she wasn’t rushed back into the fore. To have her at 60 percent makes no sense when there are other options available. Might as well let Leupholz and Magull pick up where they left off, with Oberdorf or maybe even Maier on standby should there be any issues.
Schüler takes over for Bühl up front alongside Popp. Otherwise, for better or worse, we have the system. Both strikers score.
Projected Lineups:
“Die Nationalelf” (4-4-2)
Alexandra Popp Lea Schüller
|
Sara Däbritz Giulia Gwinn
|
Melanie Leupholz Lina Magull
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Kathrin Hendrich Svenja Huth
|
Marina Hegering Sara Doorsoun
|
Almuth Schult
|
“The Super Falcons” (4-3-3)
Asisat Oshoala Desire Oparanoize Francisca Ordega
|
Ngozi Okobi
|
Chinazu Uchende Halimatu Ayinde
|
Chidinma Okeke Faith Michael
|
Osinachi Ohale Onome Ebi
|
Chiamaka Nadozie
|
Prop Bets (as always, feel free to offer your own)
Over/Under—3 Goals
120 Minutes—Straight Up
Penalty Shootout—3 to 1
Popp brace—2 to 1
Doorsoun howler—Straight Up
Ordega set-piece goal—Straight Up
Uchena Kanu start—2 to 1
THE LINE: Deutschland +2 Goals
Norway vs. Australia
vs. 
In the event that you’ve been missing out on the extensive coverage of Sam Kerr’s mercurial moods in the dailies, do allow your friendly bookie to get you caught up. Kerr scored from the spot in the first match, then proceeded to pay homage to Australian legend Timmy Cahill by taking a couple of jabs at the corner flag.
Following the Italian comeback victory, she took some heat in the domestic press for her nonchalant demeanor. When the Aussies themselves engineered a completed a comeback victory over gthe Brazilians in the second match, an excited Kerr cordially invited all critics of the Aussie team to “suck on that”. As an unabashed huge Sam Kerr fan, who did have some criticism to offer, your friendly bookie got a bit carnally excited ; )
She bagged four goals in the final group stage encounter against Jamaica, never raising her facial expressions a hair above your ex-girlfriend’s “You didn’t notice I changed my hair tempered-bitch face”. Bookie would love to see her return to her awesome back flips here, mostly because he really loves Sam Kerr.
Unfortunately, the Aussies are rife with problems. Millicic’s system is far too easy to crack. Even a doltish bookmaker can figure it out. The Matildas still don’t have a reliable left back. Where the hell is Gema Simon? I’ll use her to build down below, but I don’t trust this manager to do the same.
Foord and Raso absolutely must be the forward wingers. Millicic is an even bigger moron than one might think if he doesn’t do it.Emily van Egmond continues to take some flection in that midfield role, but I really don’t have another choice. I’d place Katrina Gorry in midfield tandem with Logzaro if the latter can get fit in time. Assuming she can’t, Yallop returns. Don’t rule out Mary Fowler. Carpenter very much overdue for a good match.
With respect to the Grasshoppers Caroline Graham Hansen’s means that’s they’ll either have to dust off Elise Thorsnes or Emile Haavi I suppose Emile Haavi’s pronounced dip in form was all too real. Sjögren been trying to groom Frida Maanumm, but I don’t think she’s been terribly great in relief. I strongly believe Saevik will be choice on the wing, but somehow I think Matin Sjörgen will try Vilde Risa first. We might see Thornses buried deep. Leaving Ingrid Engen alone in midfield may leave her prone to second booking and subsequent suspension, but that’s a risk he’ll need to be prepared to take.
Overall, bookie feels this encounter is probably the most intriguing of all the first elimination round’s offerings. This match stands as the one most likely to produce the best story. Circle this one if you can scrounge up some spare time over the weekend. We get an “upset special” out of the Norwegians after all.
UPSET ALERT!
Projected Lineups:
“The Grasshoppers” (4-1-3-2)
Lisa K. Utland Isabell Hervlosen
|
Guro Reiten Ingrid Engen Vilde Risa
|
Karina Saevik
|
Kristine Minde Ingrid M. Wold
|
Maria Thorisdottir Maren Mjelde
|
Ingrid Hjelmseth
|
“The Waltzing Matildas” (5-4-1)
Sam Kerr
|
Caitlin Foord Hayley Raso
|
Katrina Gorry Tameka Yallop
|
Gema Simon E .van Egmond Ellie Carpenter
|
Alanna Kennedy Steph Catley
|
Lydia Williams
|
Prop Bets (as always, feel free to offer your own)
Over/Under—4 Goals
120 Minutes—Straight Up
Penalty Shootout—2 to 1
Frida Maanum Start—Straight Up
Utland brace—2 to 1
Kerr brace—Straight Up
Gielnik start—Straight Up
THE LINE: Norway +1 Goal
Sunday, June 23rd
England vs. Cameroon
vs. 
Three full match breakdowns in the Dailies evince how much I’m impressed with my selected favorites. I once again implore U.S. fans to pay attention. The Lionesses will likely be the American semi-final opponent, and the only real threat to the USWNT’s defense of their title. Bookie can’t resist getting a bit creative with Phil Neville’s selection here. The only way it can work is with heavy rotation. A highly creative side should be up to the task.
As controversial as it might be, I’m sticking with Toni Duggan, just placing her behind Beth Mead. I’m also standing by endorsement of Karen Carney from the Day Thirteen Recap. Bookie thinks it an excellent idea. Tough choice between Walsh and Kirby on the right. We may see Neville drop Duggan and play them both. We’ll go with the Chelsea teammates with Walsh standing at the ready.
Greenwood reprises her role on the left, well-rested and prepared to tear it up again. Bronze really needs to play better. She’s looked suspect since gemming it in the first match. Every reason to believe she’ll get back in gear. Same applies to Parris, who dipped significantly after her sparkling debut.
Wonderful to see the Lions here. Wonderful to FINALLY see my selected talisman get some playing time and play a role in that dramatic late goal. Wonderful to see all my bitter ranting from the Day Four Recap get effectively erased by Alain Djeumfa’s improved lineup selection. It appears he has a plan after all. Ninon Abena should have been involved from the beginning, just as Christine Manie should have been benched.
Almost no chance of an upset here even if Djeumfa’s projected XI would be good enough to best some of the other knockout round opponents. They’ll keep it close against the contenders…for a while.
Projected Lineups:
“The Three Lionesses” (4-3-2-1)
Ellen White
|
Beth Mead Nikita Parris
|
Toni Duggan Karen Carney Fran Kirby
|
Alex Greenwood Lucy Bronze
|
Steph Houghton Millie Bright
|
Karen Bardsley
|
“The Indomitable Lady Lions” (5-4-1)
Gaëlle Enganamouit
|
Gabrielle Onguene Ninon Abena
|
Jeannette Yango Ajara Nchout
|
C. Meffometou A. Ejangue Raissa Feudijo
|
Estelle Johnson Aurelle Awona
|
Annette Ngo Ndom
|
Prop Bets (as always, feel free to offer your own)
Over/Under—4 Goals
120 Minutes—2 to 1
Penalty Shootout—3 to 1
Stanway start—Straight Up
Parris Hat Trick—3 to 1
Ngo Ndom howler—Straight Up
Enganamouit unassisted—3 to 1
THE LINE: England +1 Goal
France vs. Brazil
vs. 
Alright, Froggies. Let’s see what we can build in light of your poor run of form. Somehow we have to get back to the success in the opening match and a false 9 won’t work this time. DFiacre’s last eleven in the group stage was an absolute travesty. It brought out the worst in Thiney, Cascarino, Asseyi, and even Henry.
What can we do? We have to stick with the 4-3-3 but there can be no chicanery this time. Diani, Le Sommer and Cascarino have to all be deployed on the forward axis and receive instructions not to triangulate. The captain Henry assumes most responsibility for distribution, joined by Majri and Torrent whenever possible.
Thiney and Bussaglia fall back mostly to do defensive work, but also to collect back passes. Bookie honestly can’t recall the last time he openly advocated a significant amount of reverse movement, but there simply can’t be anything daft going on from Henry. Fullbacks forward before anyone can think to mark them.
This latest incarnation of the Samba Queens needs to be put out of their misery. Bookie could barely bring himself to concentrate on them. Fifteen broken plays by my count and don’t get me started on that Debhina dive. They’re a bunch of dirty players, as evidenced by seven bookings and a bunch of overly dramatic nonsense in the group phase.
Projected Lineups:
“Les Bleaus” (4-3-3)
E. Le Sommer Kadidiatou Diani D. Cascarino
|
Amandine Henry
|
Gaëthine Thiney Elise Bussaglia
|
Amel Majri Marion Torrent
|
Wendie Renard Griedge Mbock-Bathy
|
Sarah Bouhhadi
|
“The Samba Queens” (4-4-2)
Marta Cristiane
|
Debhina Andressa
|
Formiga Taissa
|
Tamires L. Santos
|
Kathleen Monica
|
Barbara
|
Prop Bets (as always, feel free to offer your own)
Over/Under—4 Goals
120 Minutes—2 to 1
Penalty Shootout—3 to 1
Vivianne Asseyi start—2 to 1
Thiney Goal—2 to 1
Cristiane set-piece goal—2 to 1
Andressinha start—2 to 1
THE LINE: France +2 Goals
Monday, June 24th
USA vs. Spain
vs. 
The one everyone will be waiting for. Bookie continues to struggle to find salient gambling information about the American team. Even if Alex Morgan won’t be able to start, it makes zero difference insofar as the Line is concerned. How can such a sentence even get written?
Once again one can’t divine anything that looks potentially threatening to the U.S. juggernaut. Bookie devoted some space to a hypothetical Spanish strategy in the Day Eleven Recap, but the notion that Jorge Vilda can somehow slow down this steamroller remains laughable.
Ellis has continually experimented with something of a narrower shape in the second and third group stage match, but I think we’ll see Lavelle and Horan deployed well out wide here. The USWNT are a squad specifically built to completely blow opposing defenses apart mere moments removed from the opening whistle. The Swedes escaped that only by virtue of the trial run of that narrow shape.
Enjoy this one. Plenty of goals for the girls.
Projected Lineups:
“Sam’s Angels” (4-3-3)
Megan Rapinoe Alex Morgan Tobin Heath
|
Julie Ertz
|
Lindsey Horan Rose Lavelle
|
Crystal Dunn Kelley O’Hara
|
Becky Sauerbrunn Abby Dahlkemper
|
Alyssa Naeher
|
“La Roja Feminino” (4-5-1)
Nahikari Garcia
|
Vicky Losada Alexia Putellas
|
Sylvia Meseguer Jennifer Hermoso Amanda Sampedro
|
Marta Torrejon Celia Jimenez
|
Irene Paredes Marta Corredera
|
Sandra Panos
|
Prop Bets (as always, feel free to offer your own)
Over/Under—5 Goals
120 Minutes—3 to 1
Penalty Shootout—4 to 1
Heath brace—Straight Up
Rapinoe brace—Straight Up
Torrecilla start—Straight Up
Hermoso goal—2 to 1
THE LINE: USA +3 Goals
Canada vs. Sweden
vs. 
Bookie feels he deserves an award for having to Chutzpah to point out how Christine Sinclair needs to step aside. Looks like Kenneth Heiner-Møller is catching up, pulling her a few short minutes after she opened her 2019 FWM account. I honestly don’t think she should be starting this one. Should the Canucks encounter some of the same problems they’ve been having in the group stage, look for her to get dropped for the Quarterfinals. They can always cite injury,
A tepid debut from Jordyn Huitema. She has many years left to establish herself as a household name. She looked a bit better after Adriana Leon came on and her and Beckie headlined a re-formatted 4-4-2. Oh if the Danish manager only had the balls to go with what obviously works.
We’ll take a Hybrid approach instead. Sinclair drops back a bit behind Beckie. Since this potentially slows down midfield rotation, we’ll put the agile Rebecca Quinn on the same vertical line and instruct her to remain in midfielder. Beckie and Prince work past the narrow Swedish formation. To obviate crowding, the fullbacks mostly stay put.
The Swedes adjust Asllani’s positioning and flip Seger and Rubensson….hopefully to no avail. After a bromidic match during which the bookie mostly wonders about what restaurant he wants to take Shelina Zardosky out to, we rid ourselves of these boring Blaugults for the next eleven months. Done.
Projected Lineups:
“The Canucks” (4-4-1-1)
Jessie Fleming
|
Christine Sinclair
|
Janine Beckie Sophie Schmidt Nichelle Prince
|
Rebecca Quinn
|
A. Chapman S. Zardosky K. Buchanan A. Lawrence
|
Stephanie Labbe
|
“The Blaugults” (4-4-2)
Fridolina Rolfö Stina Blackstenius
|
Kosovare Asllani Sofia Jakobsson
|
Elin Rubensson Caroline Seger
|
M. Eriksson Hanna Glas
|
Nilla Fischer Linda Sembrandt
|
Hedvig Lindahl
|
Prop Bets (as always, feel free to offer your own)
Over/Under—3 Goals
120 Minutes—Straight Up
Penalty Shootout—Straight Up
Sinclair substitution (70+)—Straight Up
Prince goal—Straight Up
Anvegard start—Straight Up
Schough start—Straight Up
THE LINE: Canada +1 Goal
Tuesday, June 25th
Italy vs. China PR
vs. 
Should spell quarterfinals for the “tournament sweethearts”. I’ve given a fair amount of coverage to this initially couched 4-3-3 Bertoli waiting to unveil, only doing so when her players started rising in confidence in the Day Eight recap.
I question its use in the Brazil match, given that the group wasn’t on the line and minimal squad rotation was minimal. With four players sitting on yellows, we must presage something more conservative here. They’ve also gotten a good look at the Chinese 5-3-2 from the second group stage match.
It would be nice if they could piece together a 5-3-2 of their own, but the personnel simply aren’t there there. We’ll need some more action out wide. Definitely need to see more from the fullbacks.
Bookie discerns three significant dangers posed by the Steel Roses. First, Wang Shuang’s form is steadily improving after her slow start. She’s in her natural position, but initially had problems sharing space with all those other playmakers. They look to be getting comfortable with each other at precisely the right time.
Next, Wu Haiyan gets the slight advantage over Giugliano in the center of the park. She’s more experienced, disciplined and stable. Finally, bookie must invoke the dreaded “Trappatoni Tenet”. So much has been made of the fact that these Juve-Turin players are familiar enough to respect each other’s space. That works until it doesn’t. We may very well see frustration boil over here. We saw a bit of it in the final group stage match.
Somewhat against my better judgment, I’ll roll with the Cinderellas here. Italy prevail in a close one.
Projected Lineups:
“Azzure” (4-2-3-1)
Cristiana Girelli
|
B. Bonansea I. Mauro
|
V. Cernoia M. Giugliano V. Bergamaschi
|
Elisa Bartoli Alia Guagni
|
Sara Gama Elena Linari
|
Laura Giuliani
|
“The Steel Roses” (5-3-2)
Li Ying Wang Shansan
|
Gu Yasha Yang Li Wuang Shuang
|
Wu Haiyan
|
Liu Shansan Lin Yuping
|
Han Peng
|
Peng Shimeng
|
Prop Bets (as always, feel free to offer your own)
Over/Under—3 Goals
120 Minutes—Straight Up
Penalty Shootout—2 to 1
Bonansea brace—2 to 1
Galli substitution (70+)—2 to 1
Wang Schuang from outside 18 —Straight Up
Shimeng howler—Straight Up
THE LINE: Italy +1 Goal
The Netherlands vs. Japan
vs. 
No major changes projected for Sarina Wiegman’s Leewinnen, who won again despite still failing to find a way to get Lieke Martens really going. It truly would be a shame for her not to showcase her sublime skills in front of a global audience before this tournament is out. I’m telling you brothers, she really is THAT good.
Oh man. Bookie will be most grateful when Takakura and her prospect squad get the hell out this tournament. Major headaches for the bookie attempting to figure out this one and the other one currently playing in the Copa America.
It looks like Nakajima seems to have been pulled inward with Endo and either Miura or Koyashi serving as the flank players on the frontal assault. We’ll make an educated guess and tap Sugasawa as Iwabuchi’s partner on the top axis. Sameshima may switch as they’ll need to double-up marking on Mertens. Utsugi definitely needs to return if they hope to shut van de Sanden down.
Could see an upset here as Takaura is nothing if not well prepared. She’s also found quite the budding star in Nana Ichese. Love how that girl gets the counter rolling. The Nadeshiko have a knack for defying everyone’s predictions when it comes to this phase of the tournament. No one expected them to knock off hosts Germany and later Sweden in 2011. They also beat a much better England squad in 2015.
Meh. Different teams. We’ll stick with the favorites here. Might be a very high-scoring affair. Tune in if you can.
Projected Lineups:
“Clockwork Leeuwinnen” (4-3-3)
Lieke Martens Vivianne Miedema Shanice van de Sanden
|
Jackie Groenen Sherida Spitse
|
Danielle van de Donk
|
Merel van Dongen Desiree van Lunteren
|
Annouk Dekker Dominique Bloodworth
|
Sari van Veenendaal
|
“The Nadeshiko” (4-4-2)
Yukia Sugasawa Mana Iwabuchi
|
Jun Endo Rikako Kobayashi
|
Hina Sugita Emi Nakajima
|
Aya Sameshima Risa Shimzu
|
Saki Kumagai Rumi Utsugi
|
Ayaka Yamashita
|
Prop Bets (as always, feel free to offer your own)
Over/Under—4 goals
120 Minutes—2 to 1
Penalty Shootout—3 to 1
Miedema Hat Trick—2 to 1
Van de Gragt start—2 to 1
Miura start—Straight Up
Sugita start—Straight Up
THE LINE: The Netherlands +1 Goal
GENTLEMEN, ENTER YOUR WAGERS
