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 34: Recap
Bookie’s Stats—
Spread: 54-73
Straight up: 74-36-16
A fantastic day of football to cap off our penultimate daily. Senegal-Tunisia was just plain fucking awesome. The nightcap didn’t have the same fireworks, until Riyad Mahrez captured the day with that scorcher on the game’s last play.
Damn! That’s how one blasts and bends at the same time. What technique! Watch it again and again.
S.S.S. Tactical Breakdown 
The bookie’s selected favorites supplied us with a real pulsating match that proved madly entertaining from throughout the full 120 minutes. The Algerians were significantly less riveting, advancing only thanks to one solitary moment of class.
Plenty of talking points, tactic-wise. We’ll have a look at both the winners and losers in today’s analysis.
Lineup—Senegal—Match Six (Projected) (4-3-3) (7/13/2019)
M’Baye Niang
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Sadio Mané Keita Balde
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Idrissa Gueye Henri Saviet Krepin Diatta
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Moussa Wagué Youssouf Sabaly
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Kalidou Koulibaly Cheikou Kouyate
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Alfred Gomis
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Lineup—Senegal—Match Six (Actual) (4-3-3) (7/14/2019)
M’Baye Niang
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Sadio Mané Krepin Diatta
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Idrissa Gueye Henri Saviet Badou N’Diaye
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Yousouf Sabaly Lamine Gassama
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Kalidou Koulibaly Cheikou Kouyate
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Alfred Gomis
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Absolutely loved this selection from Aliou Cisse. It certainly took a pair of stones to give 20-year-old Krepin Diatta the start. Bookie was delighted to discover upon seeing the team sheet that he and the Senegalese manager were of the same mind. Diatta and Mané engaged in some brilliant rotation in the opening fifteen minutes. Bookie couldn’t place them. Neither could the Tunisian defense, who were completely confused by their adroit switching.
Sabaly’s fine effort in the first half showed he had given a great deal of thought to that woeful quarterfinal performance. It was nice to see him having a go himself instead of slogging around looking for the overlap and ultimately crossing to no one. Gassama turned in a real gem as well. Perhaps the primary reason the Terangans were able to be potent offensively had to do with his forward runs. The Tunisians focused on harrying Niang and were able to contend with neither the Mané-Diatta switches or Gassama’s prowess.
Virtually everyone had their looks at goal as all the players crashed into the central top 18 at some point in the fixture. Optically speaking, many will have hoped for a bit more lateral play. Bookie will argue that they played attractively enough flooding the center. There were no shortage of cheeky back heels and sublime efforts off the turn. One left this match feeling fully satisfied with the combined efforts of all the actors.
Thank goodness the Teranga Lions—along with the correct officiating—prevailed at the end of the day. The penalty awarded to Tunisa on a purported Kalidou Koulibaly handball was ludicrous. Had it not been for VAR, the Carthaginians would have been gifted another farce. Bookie deems the penalty awarded to the victors to have been fully legitimate. Saviet also struck a very good ball. His grade isn’t adversely affected by Mouez Hassan’s stretch save.
All subs a factor as we delve into the marks.
Grades—Senegal (Match Six)
Alfred Gomis
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A+
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M’Baye Niang
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A+
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Krepin Diatta
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A+
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Lamine Gassama
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A+
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Henri Saviet
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A
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M’Baye Diagne
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A
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Sadio Mané
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A
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Moussa Wague
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A
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Salif Sané
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A
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Cheikhou Kouyate
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A-
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Kalidou Koulibaly
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B+
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Youssouf Sabaly
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B
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Idrissa Gana Gueye
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B
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Ismaila Sarr
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B-
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Badou N’Diaye
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C+
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I was rather surprised at Badou N’Diaye’s inlclusion and even more surprised that it took Cissé 82 minutes and two other subs to finally get him off. Koulibaly and Kouyaté did make some defensive errors, but it was largely the Galatasaray man who left too much space open by failing to establish himself center-right. He was the only player the bookie truly didn’t jive with.
Now, of course, comes the trillion-dollar-question Namely, can Senegal capture the crown without the suspended Kalidou Koulibaly? Argh. Tough one. They’re already horribly thin at centerback. Cissé only has two options: a still not 100-percent Salif Sané or the only thrice capped 23-year-old Olympiacos profi Pape Abou. He may need them both if Salif re-aggravates his injury.
Whew. This may prove problematic. There’s also the matter of this team not having a regular penalty taker. That never bodes well for a final…
Lineup—Algeria—Match Six (Projected) (4-4-2) (7/13/2019)
Baghdad Bounedjah Youcef Belaili
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Adlene Guedioura Riyad Mahrez
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Sofiane Feghouli Ismael Bennacer
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Rami Bensebaini Mehdi Zeffane
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Aissa Mandi Djamel Benlamri
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Rais M’Bohli
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Lineup—Algeria—Match Six (Projected) (4-4-2) (7/13/2019)
Baghdad Bounedjah Youcef Belaili
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Riyad Mahrez Sofiane Feghouli
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Adlene Guedioura Ismael Bennacer
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Rami Bensebaini Mehdi Zeffane
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Aissa Mandi Djamel Benlamri
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Rais M’Bohli
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It’s not surprising at all that it took them quite some time to get this rolling. One could even make the case that they never really got it going at all. I saw absolutely no need to flip Mahrez and move Feghouli back out wide. The moves were clearly designed to take advantage of Feghouli’s quick cuts in possession, and possibly get him involved in some midfield triangulations.
It kind of worked for the first twenty minutes or so. There were technical enough attacking flurries inside the box as the Fennecs got their triangles right. Everything soon devolved into a back-passing clinic. I noted the strong Algerian possession game in my more recent appraisals of the team’s system, but that’s just not the sort of stuff football fans want to see.
Creativity wasn’t so much lacking altogether as lacking the second and third axis ingenuity. When Zeffane came forward we saw some good ideas on the overlap, but not much of real quality at the end of the plays. Bounedjah and Belaili weren’t very good at all. Perhaps it would have been a decent idea to sit the former after all.
Belmadi employed no substitutions and didn’t make any real adjustments until around the 83rd minute of the match. Moving Mahrez back right and having Feghouli slot back to pair with Bennancer finally got some things going. How nice it is well managers return to a stratagem so plainly obvious that even your friendly bookie can draw it up ; )
Grades—Algeria (Match Six)
Riyad Mahrez
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A+
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Rais M’Bohli
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A
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Mehdi Zeffane
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A
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Djamel Benlamri
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A
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Ismael Bennacer
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A
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Sofiane Feghouli
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A-
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Ramy Bensebaini
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B
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Adlene Guedioura
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B-
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Aissa Mandi
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C
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Youcef Belaili
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C
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Baghdad Bounedjah
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C
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Yeah…there’s very little chance we’ll witness them play this poorly in the Final, but surely you can sense in which direction your friendly bookie leans as he prepares to make this Summer’s last Championship Pick. Hard to back this bunch after watching them struggle with their rhythm today, even if they were facing a top-class opponent.
Djamel Belmadi got his players right, but his tactics wrong. His previously alluded to inexperience definitely shows. Aliou Cissé need only study the game film carefully to see what neutralizing position he needs to push which players into. The Blueprint for defeating these guys is out there for everyone to see.
S.S.S. Salute to Fallen Comrades 
Lineup—Tunisia—Match Six (Projected) (4-4-1-1) (7/13/2019)
Youssef Msakni
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Wahbi Khazri
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Ferjani Sassi A. Badri N. Sliti Ellyes Skhiri
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Oussama Haddadi Wadji Kechrida
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Dylan Bronn Yassine Meriah
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Mouez Hassan
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Lineup—Tunisia—Match Six (Actual) (4-3-2-1) (7/14/2019)
Wahbi Khazri
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Ferjani Sassi Youssef Msakni
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T.Y. Khenissi Ellyes Skhiri A.B. Mohamed
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Oussama Haddadi Mohamed Dräger
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Dylan Bronn Yassine Meriah
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Mouez Hassan
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I bloody well hate Alain Giresse. He really went the entire tournament not knowing where to place his best player. Msakni produced nothing on the right. How could he with Mohamed Dräger invading his space and Ayman Ben Mohamed unable to decide which team he was playing for? At least he had the temerity to yank Msakni prior to the restart and try build something more exciting with Naim Sliti spearheading a 4-5-1.
Bookie is so very glad that the worst of the Semi-Finals are no longer in the running for the title. When they weren’t boring me to tears, they were causing frustrated consternation with Giresse’s crap tactics. They suuuuck. Goodbye!
Lineup—Nigeria—Match Six (Projected) (4-1-4-1) (7/13/2019)
Odion Ighalo
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Ahmed Musa A. Iwobi J.O. Mikel W. Ndidi
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Oghenekaro Etebo
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Ola Aina Kenneth Omeruo C. Awaziem
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William Troost-Ekong
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Daniel Akpeyi
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Lineup—Nigeria—Match Six (Actual) (4-2-3-1) (7/14/2019)
Odion Ighalo
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Ahmed Musa Alex Iwobi Samuel Chukwueze
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Oghenekaro Etebo Wilfred Ndidi
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Jamilu Collins Chidozie Awaziem
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Kenneth Omeruo William Troost-Ekong
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Daniel Akpeyi
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Very Well. Despite the bookie’s impassioned pleas to shake these up a bit, Gernot Rohr simply went with the same players and formations from the previous match. Something of a shame as I truly believe Etebo could have handled his own axis and thrived. Oh well. I suppose that Iwobi’s work as flight director and the Ndidi partnership were considered too valuable to tinker with.
Chemistry can sometimes be overvalued late into these tournaments. Ndidi and Etebo did do well in central midfield, but Iwobi was left alone far too often. Bookie was afraid that might happen. Musa and Chukwueze just jetted off their lines after the team fell behind. Iwobi could claim all the space in the world, but he had too many options ahead and none by his side.
Whether or not Ola Aina was injured, I was largely impressed by the play of Jamilu Collins. There wasn’t much either he or William Troost-Ekong could do about that unfortunate own-goal that careened off both of them. Rotten luck. It’s a tough loss to take as our Super Eagles came closer to the Final than I had anticipated in my semi-final projection.
Take it we must. At least they’re back in the tournament again ; )
“Riffs of the Day”—Day Thirty-Four
Reader: I’m having horrible childhood flashbacks watching the African medical teams rush out to the pitch with those archaic igloo coolers. It’s Summer Camp and I wet the bed!
Vicey: Bwahahahaha. 11-M deserves a “Zing” and a detailed rejoinder. We should notify Kreskin as we were both having flashbacks without communicating with one another.
Summer Camp, you say? It reminded me of youth sports whenever it was my mom’s turn to bring the post-game soda pop! Oh Christ.
“I thought we agreed we’d do either Sunkist Orange or Hawaiian Punch, Mom. ‘RC Cola’ and ‘Mountain Lightning’? Waahh! As if losing 0-6 wasn’t bad enough..”
Reader: One cannot explain Ayman Ben Mohamed in the starting lineup.
Vicey: Er….well…there was my Round-of-16 Projection, but I had assumed Alain Giresse and this fucking team would be long gone by now.
Reader: Sadio Mané and Aliou Cissé’s hand gestures make me want to haggle over toaster prices.
Vicey: Don’t really have much to add to this masterful one from 72-M. I guess I could let everyone know that I obstinately refused to haggle over prices when in Africa. White guy wasn’t gonna win. You want $12 for the sunglasses? Okay. Cool. I needed them anyway.
Reader: Tunisian fat-dude fan looks like he’s straight out of the “Temple of Doom”.
Vicey: (laughing uncontrollably)
128-M with the rock-n-roll “Überzing”. Let’s see. Been a few years since I’ve done this. How does it go?
“OOH-numb-SHE-buy, OOH-numb-SHE-buy, OOH-numb-SHE-buy”.
Reader: Alfred Gomis is listed at 6’5’’. That can’t be right.
Vicey: It’s not. I don’t know who takes these measurements. He’s at least 6’8’’. Thibault Courtois pushes seven feet. Manute Bol was an eight-footer if I ever saw one.
Reader: Vice…am I going crazy or are there green laser pointers aimed at Chukwueze every time he attempts a free kick?
Vicey: No hallucination. I see it too. I also think you’re crazy, 17-M.
Our time together draws to a close, gentlemen. With the final tournament set-up for such a great finale, the hopeful Senegalese football fans bid you a spirited adieu until we make the last calls!
