Shadow Scholar Syndicate: FWM/CA 2019--Day Eleven 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 11: Recap

Bookie’s Stats—

Spread: 15-18

Straight up: 22-7-4

Ouch. Not the greatest day for the prognostications. Not the greatest day for football either. Found it hard to focus on some of the shite we saw on the pitch today. We all knew Spain vs. China would be junk, but Norway-South Korea didn’t have to suck. Total farce from the French. Supremely French.

Guess this day belongs to the Japanese Youth squad. Thrust into international action before their nuts had fully dropped, they fought like hell to keep those Chilean floodgates closed...until they couldn't.

Take a bow, boys!

S.S.S. Tactical Breakdown

We’ll check in with my Mädels and preview the likely U.S. Round-of-16 opponent. Looks like you’ve got Spain, gentlemen. That’ll work just fine. Blow the Sweden game and you actually might be in trouble.

Lineup—Deutschland—Match Two (4-3-3) (6/12/2019)

Alexandra Popp

Verena Schweers Svenja Huth

Lena Oberdorf Sara Däbritz Lena Gößling

Kathrin Hendrich Giulia Gwinn

Marina Hegering Sara Doorsoun

Almuth Schult

Lineup—Deutschland—Match Three (4-4-2) (6/17/2019)

Alexandra Popp Klara Bühl

Sara Däbrtiz Giulia Gwinn

Melanie Leupholz Lina Magull

Verena Schweers Svenja Huth

Marina Hegering Sara Doorsoun

Almuth Schult

Definitely a 4-4-2 from start to finish. We might be witnessing the shape for the duration of the tournament. Not entirely sure I approve, but the time for major tinkering has likely passed. Note that it proved exceedingly difficult to place Gwinn, who could have given the pitch an ample mowing with all the ground she covered today. Her most popular destinations appeared switches with Huth, Magull, and Bühl. She did swap with Däbritz on occasion.

The centerbacks pressed extremely high in some cases. One should probably consider this something of an aberration. Voss-Tecklenburg sought to take risks against the weakest group opponent, obviously not caring if the back was left completely open. Doubtful we’ll see that in the knockouts. This team still lacks a solid “track-back” midfielder or at least they did today without Gößling in the lineup.

Schweers pressed forward all of twice by my count. Her replacement at the restart, Carolin Simon, moved a bit more. The vertical positioning nevertheless remained fairly rigid excepting Gwinn. Even Leupholz and Magull stayed on the respective sides of their splits. Bühl mostly looked confused as to what her role was supposed to be. I was quite surprised to see her tire out after an hour mostly consisting of stutterstepping. Could be the case that she made more directional shifts than I noticed.

We once again saw some well-thought-out set-piece designs. That facet of the training regimen appears top-notch. On balance I consider only one of the four goals to have been of real quality. Leupholz was completely unmarked off the corner, barely moving to head home in the 14^th. Däbritz in the 29^thand Magull in the 58^thcame courtesy of defensive errors, keeper spills, and a propitious bounce on the latter. In contrast, Gwinn and Däbritz setting up Popp on the cutback in the 39^thwas gorgeous.

In a certain sense, the German girls earned a third consecutive 1-0 victory today. All subs get grades in a fourteen player report.

Grades—Deutschland (Match Three)

Giula Gwinn	A+
Sara Däbritz	A+
Almuth Schult	A
Alexandra Popp	A
Lea Schüller	A
Melanie Leupholz	B+
Svenja Huth	B
Verena Schweers	B
Linda Dallman	B
Carolin Simon	B
Sara Doorsoun	B-
Lina Magull	B-
Marina Hegering	C+
Klara Bühl	C

Lina Magull’s hustle to bungle home spared her a very low marking. She had an awful first half marked by missed passes and some very clumsy tackling. There was also that atrocious miss in the 34^th. Her run-of-play performance steadily improved as she grew more comfortable working with Leupholz in the midfield. By the end of the day I thought they made a serviceable pair, though there remains much work to be done.

Again, we must highlight the issues with this centerback pairing. Hegering and Doorsoun earn relatively high marks based on their good work on the offensive side of the ball, but they were again a mess at the back. Poor communication led to them getting blown wide open in the 39^thand 74^th. They absolutely wilted toward the end, trotting with a languid gait and committing egregious acts of ball watching.

Topping the group will afford die Nationalelf some more time to work through these issues, but time is running out. The midfield and centerback pairings should spend a great deal of time training together over the next five days, carefully honing the requisite skills necessary to strengthen their partnership. They’ve only one more match left to begin clicking.

Lineup—Spain—PROJECTED (4-5-1) (6/17/2019)

Nahikari Garcia

Vicky Losada Alexia Putellas

Sylvia Meseguer Jennifer Hermoso Amanda Sampedro

Marta Torrejon Celia Jimenez

Irene Paredes Marta Corredera

Sandra Panos

This is what I would do if I were Jorge Vilda.

One cannot hope to succeed against the U.S. 4-3-3 without employing the widest possible veteran combination on the third axis. Jill Ellis’s standard formation threatens in so many ways. Lindsay Horan and Rose Lavelle are spread out in such a wide shape that they effectively function as fullbacks. They often cede ground to the actual fullbacks, Crystal Dunn and Kelley O’Hara, meaning that any given moment one of four separate players threaten to tear down the flanks.

Only an experienced midfield can hope to clog this attack. It is such that Jennifer Hermoso remains far too valuable to be deployed at striker. She must move further back, flanked by her Athletico Madrid teammates Sylvia Meseguer and Amanda Sampedro. They face the tenacious quadruple threat of the (not so) central midfielders and the fullbacks head on. The approach presaged above is actually not unlike what Jorge Vilde used against the Germans with a few notable exceptions. For starters, Sampedro replaces Torrecilla.

Next, the short strikers. Mariona Caldentey is sacrificed in favor of the more experienced and defensive-minded Vicky Losada. Losada and her Barcelona teammate pull inward significantly and drop back frequently. Their primary job will be to neutralize Ertz and win as many balls as possible. An opportunity or two on the counter might present itself, but it would be more prudent to focus on forcing Horan and Lavelle to slide inward to help Ertz. This at least in part negates the threat coming out of the back. They might even draw Morgan and Heath back a bit.

Finally, we’ll make some shifts in defense. Marta Corredera comes in to pair with Irene Paredes at centerback. She can still move out to the right flank on occasion, provided she rotates with the new right back Celia Jimenez Delgado, the U.S.-educated prodigy who started in the previous competition despite being only 19. She seems the best bet to at least attempt to mark Rapinoe. Maria Pillar Leon is the odd one out in spite of a great tournament.

Might any of this work? Of course not. In this short passage we’ve managed to address perhaps four or five of the twelve thousand dangerous aspects of the “best female footballing side ever assembled.” You guys might as well begin deciding which Quarterfinal Watch Party they would like to attend. Clear some time on the afternoon of Friday the 28^th.

“Riffs of the Day”—Day Eleven

Reader: Not sure what Cho So-Hyun is doing, but count me in.

Vicey: That poor girl needs a hug. She’s always been so fragile.

Reader: If they do one more fucking fluff piece on the damned U.S. team.

Vicey: Calm down, 135-M. Not everyone knows this team as well as you. Young girls need to know that Alex Morgan likes to shop and Julie Ertz wears make up.

Reader: Popp has to score there!

Vicey: She was way too twisted….much like the bookie’s thoughts at the moment.

Reader: Geyoro should start.

Vicey: That’s a damn good point, 5-M. Thiney looks tired. All these girls look tired. Maybe I’m just tired. ; (

DAY TWELVE—PREVIEW

Debuting lines drop in the next CA Post.

Jamaica vs. Australia