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With warm preemptive congratulations to Kanzlerin Baerbock :)
Your friendly bookie wholeheartedly endorses a German velvet revolution. Let's go Europe!
Day 11: Recap
Bookie’s Stats—
Spread: 9-21
Straight up: 12-13-5
Whew! Gratuitous profanity time. Holy fucking shitball fuck! That, gentlemen, is football at it's finest. All the anxiety, tension, and splendor that the beautiful game has to offer. We haven't had a day like that since the Italy-Germany shootout in the 2016 EM Quarterfinals!
Just when you thought this year's Denmark team couldn't engender any more raw emotion, the fans and players under the Rød-Hvide deliver a classic that shall never be forgotten. You just watched one of the greatest fixtures Europe has ever seen.
Sing for us Denmark! Sing! Sing the Re-Sepp-Ten!
Five minutes after the Danish fans launched into a stirring (if not haunting) rendition of their 1986 World Cup Campaign Song, "We are Red, We are White", they got their crucial second goal!!!
The magic of football, mates. Fans channel energy onto the pitch with their chants. How about a third?
How....about....a fourth?
Go ahead and completely smash those Ruskies to pieces!
Gøøøøøøøøl!
S.S.S. Tactical Breakdown
Could be wrong about this, but I saw a few changes even though the personnel and basic shape from Day Seven remained in place. Kjaer worked a less pronounced pivot and everyone else moved back a bit. Additionally, Thomas Delaney and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg flipped. At least, I think they did.
We might have a case of the bookie's eyes deceiving him. This happens. It's reasonable to assume that Hjulmand sought to replicate the up-tempo start from the previous match only to discover that the Russians were simply too compact for it.
To me, it seemed more reserved; perhaps a deliberate attempt to conserve more energy for the finish. The hosts didn't even get a look at goal until Højberg's effort in the 28th. Damsgaard's finish in the 38th (what a gem it was) constituted an aberrant occurrence during what was a fairly weak half.
Bookie honestly doesn't wish to rehash the entire encounter. One reason is that I know full well that I wouldn't do it justice. This evening's post is a little late, because I had to process all the insanity with others. We've got pictures for those foolishly thinking they shouldn't watch the replay.
Here, we have something of tactical interest. Poulsen (Yurary for his national team) scored shortly before the first two subs. Dolberg replaced the Leipzig striker whilst Jens Stryger Larsen again replaced Daniel Wass.
It was at this point that Hjulmand's XI started revolving around as part of a re-format. The shift was completed after Nørgaard replaced Damsgaard in the 72nd.
Look familiar? It's not quite the 4-3-1-2 I drew up on Day Seven, but it shares many characteristics. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is what Hjulmand does with his back-four. It's a neat little diamond that generates some pop with Andreas Christensen functioning as a highly mobile buccaneering left-back.
Something to keep an eye on.
Naturally, when it comes to Denmark, we'll want to save as much of the technical stuff for the next lines section. Today was about emotions more than all this. Difficult as it may be to fathom, your friendly bookie holds back quite a bit in this section during "friends and football" season.
Good fucking God.
LONG LIVE FOOTBALL!
Let's check in with "Kleindeutschland". Very happy to be proven wrong here.
Okay. How shall we put this? Weird. Just plain fucking weird. Marcel Sabitzer as a short striker and Konrad Laimer out on the wing. Franco Foda doesn't necessarily earn wizardry points for this one. It might have functioned better and Baumgartner not gotten hurt shortly after converting that set-piece....but it was still damn weird.
Can't say I liked this at all. Arnautovic's poor finishing ensured a pretty straightforward advantage in terms of the first-half xG. Not sure that counts for a lot as the second half sucked. Moreover, Lainer only narrowly avoided the equalizer with that own goal later on. This was a narrow escape with some bad tactics.
We're all very happy to welcome the Austrians to their first ever elimination round...but even the celebrations were weird.
I obviously can't read Sabitzer's facial expressions from that shot. It seems a safe bet that he felt as awkward about Arnautovic's requests for service as he had all night. This looks like a scene from a prison yard about to go horribly wrong.
More weirdness. Time to fulfill one of the bookie's promises.
Bookie shits you not. This was how Frank de Boer's Dutch looked for long stretches against Austria in the second group stage match. Wijnaldum moved up to run pivot behind the strikers. Everyone else fell back in one seriously "de-Boer-ing" set up. Afafafafafa.
Unsurprisingly, the Dutch finished the group stages without conceding a single goal. They netted three of their own today in a match that was much more encouraging.
We're back in the 5-3-2.....sort of. Contrasting this one from the draw up in the Day Three Recap, you can see Wijnaldum move back again while Depay and de Jong switch sides and go wider. As predicted Gravenberch got the start. Thankfully, Davy Klaassen remained on the bench.
Overall, it was a good match. Loads more magic from Wijnaldum and Dumfries. Weghorst came off the bench and hit the post twice. At this juncture, Bookie's thinking quarterfinals against the Danes with this man carrying the team on his shoulders.
Just a fantastic footballer. Most significant transfer of the Summer.
-3 games played
-2 goals scored
Not sorry to be writing this section. A humble bookmaker has tried his utmost to find some sympathy for this country. During the 2018 WM, I even wrote on some quixotic hopes. Writing the Preview Section this time, I could only summon the embers of them.
Doping. Putinism. Crimea. Obviously, that's not this team's fault. Still looking forward to forgetting to square the footballing circle for a little
Wish I could of found a picture of Roman Zobnin being consoled by his teammates after that errant backless that led to Poulsen's goal. That was quite the moment when his teammates all rallied around him. Also a nice footballing story on this day.
I suppose no cameramen in the stadium could be bothered to point their lenses toward that scene with Poulsen celebrating his goal. For that matter, most of the minute-by-minute writers didn't even correctly label Zobnin as the culprit.
Some have Kudryashov making the pass. Others say it was Kuzyaev. See? Your friendly bookie isn't the only one who gets things mixed up at times! In any rate, it was Zobnin. Hope the poor lad isn't headed off to Siberia.
No real changes from the Day Six Recap. I think, just as I did with Denmark, that the sixes flipped. Wonder who blinked first there. Either Hjulmand or Cherchesov switched the midfielders and the other one reacted.
This might have had some bearing on the Zobnin pass that I'll be kind enough to shut up about soon. I just have to emphasize one last time what an important bearing that had on the outcome. Zobnin was prone to a blackout on his unnatural side.
Tactical cam aficionados might never see a shape in as complete disarray as after the third Denmark goal. This is why tallies in football so often come in waves. All it takes is a breakdown in discipline to give highly skilled footballers that bit of space they need.
We should see the Ruskies back soon enough as they're doing fine in their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying group.
North Macedonia--"Lavovi"
-3 games played
-2 goals scored
Previous N. Macedonia Tactical Coverage:
Lineup—N. Macedonia—PROJECTED (3-5-2) (6/1/2021)
Bookie (to his own astonishment) mostly got the pre-tournament prediction right. It wasn't exactly the 3-5-2 a couple of scouts led me to believe was coming. Igor Angelovksi had some surprises up his sleeve as he took the competition's biggest underdogs into the opening match against Austria.
Lineup—N. Macedonia—Match One (3-5-2) (6/13/2021)
A tightly grouped together midfield triangle did catch Franco Foda's Burschen off guard once and made world-class defender David Alaba look like an amateur. Thirty-seven-year-old Pandev got his big tally in his first major international. The constellation in the Ukraine fixture came closest to working.
Lineup—N. Macedonia—Match Two (3-4-1-2) (6/17/2021)
This served as an interesting surprise. Yarmolenko and Yaremchuk were unfortunately able to waltz through the newly inverted fifth axis unmolested early. Switching the back-three around like that predictably led to coordination issues. One last surprise for us on the final match day.
Lineup—N. Macedonia—Match Three (4-2-3-1) (6/21/2021)
For anyone keeping track, Elif Elmas essentially played everywhere this tournament. He's a very intriguing player sure to be a more commonly known name soon. A player I wish wasn't about to disappear forever is 34-year-old winger Ivan Trickoviski.
That's a fucking awesome name. Bookie wishes he had made his acquaintance earlier. One probably should spell his name with a "ch", but I opted to take creative license.
“Riffs of the Day”—Day Eleven
Reader: #UKRAUT?
Vicey: Yes, 56-M?
Reader: #UKRAUT!?
Vicey: Yes. Me: Kraut. You: 56-M. What can I do for you friend?
Reader: The twitter hashtag for Austria-Ukraine is #UKRAUT!
Vicey: I don't understand, 56-M. I don't create twitter hashtags. I'm not planning on trending some day. None of this is making any sense!
Oh.....I see what our problem is.
Reader: Christ, man. Can we get a Denmark match without the anxiety?
Vicey: I think I'm about to have my own heart attack! For fuck's sake, Belgium! Score! Score!
Did that just happen? Since when does that happen?
Never seen that happen to Hradecky before....except that one time against Bielefeld....and that wasn't his fault. There was a divot on the pitch!!
Reader: Long live football, Vicey.
Vicey: Long live football, 117-M.
Reader: Long live football, Vicey.
Vicey: Long live football, 72-M.
Reader: Long live football, Vicey.
Vicey: Long live football, everyone.
LONG LIVE FOOTBALL!!
DAY TWELVE—PREVIEW
Croatia vs. Scotland
vs. 
Some of you guys need to lay off the sauce. Betting nevertheless remains open.
THE LINE: Pick em' (holding)
England vs. Czech Republic
vs. 
Timid, timid Limeys. Betting still open on this line too.
THE LINE: England +2 Goals
