Comments on: Europop 2008: Group B - Austria 1 Croatia 1

By: Matt DC

Matt DC — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:46:37 +0000

I have a feeling Germany v Poland could be heading for a draw as well, in which case this group is WIDE OPEN.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:21:45 +0000

So this is one of those situations where if you’d offered me this result at the beginning of the match, I’d have snapped your hand off at the elbow, and where given the whole Cascarino-pop affair I should be grateful. But but but Croatia were so close to victory (like one vote, by my dodgy maths!) that I can’t help but be a little disappointed.

Then again this was a good result against class opponents, gives us a platform to build on and move forward, especially with our newly enhanced coaching staff.

By: Gerhard Whippenpfeiffer (assistant coach)

Gerhard Whippenpfeiffer (assistant coach) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:20:45 +0000

Austrian coach Steve M is philosophical after salvaging a precious point in the opening group match with the tenacious Croats.

“We are fortunate” he concedes, “they had quite a lot more possession in the end - we could not create enough chances this time but we were solid at the back apart from on the set piece. The question mark over the eligibilty of their goalscorer is not an issue for us but hopefully it will not be a deciding factor in who progresses from this group.”

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:21:17 +0000

No, it’s on some weird time of its own!

By: CarsmileSteve

CarsmileSteve — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:50:46 +0000

i’m guessing the poll is still on GMT rather than summer time, hence the results not showing up yet.

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 11:45:44 +0000

If you haven’t voted in this you have a little under 24 hours before the poll closes!

By: CarsmileSteve

CarsmileSteve — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 19:22:14 +0000

The Croatian Pop Association would like to humbly apologise to FIPA, the other competing nations and to the worldwide Euro Pop Cup audience. It was an honest mistake, based on a lack of solid information on the website Grupa Zeris were found (which has a .hr suffix and many croatian acts on it). I can only ask that those voting think of Tony Cascarino before judging us too harshly (and also, look at that pic again, bless them, how could we not introduce you all to it).

~~…and we would’ve gotten away with it, if it wasn’t for you meddling croat kids~~ The CPA is delighted to announce that they will be employing Mind Taker in an advisory capacity for the remainder of the competition, which they hope will be a long time.

By: lex

lex — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:54:36 +0000

SCANDAL!

By: Mind Taker

Mind Taker — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:07:12 +0000

not as messy a minefield as one would expect, actually! while “Da, da, tako je” was recorded in Yugoslavia, Serbians (and everyone else in former Yugoslavia) would consider it to be Serbian - since the girls are from Serbia, they sing in Serbian (which is not radically different from Croatian language, but there are still some u+k differences), the song was written and arranged by a Serbian dude, and so on… so basically any Yugo-era song by a Croatian artist is fair game.

a question for the FIPA bods: are the Croatian managers allowed to have any more side-help with scouting for talent? (if the answer is yes and the Croatian management is interested in further tactical tips, they can drop me a mail at djevojke@yahoo.com)

By: Matt DC

Matt DC — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:02:18 +0000

Just thought - given the (probable) date of this record’s release, would this not count as a Yugoslavian entry? Not that either the Serbs or the Croats would be happy with that. Argh! Balkan pop politics is a minefield!

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:49:22 +0000

FIPA’s disciplinary committee is digesting this important new information. However FIPA’s disciplinary committee is quite a slow-moving organisation and may take several months - in the meantime voters must search their consciences and ask if this might tip the balance of their voting…

By: Mind Taker

Mind Taker — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:44:55 +0000

i’m from Croatia and i have never heard of this Grupa Zeris! quick googling reveals they were a one-minor-hit-wonder. also, it reveals they’re not from Croatia - they’re actually Serbian :\

By: Koen

Koen — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:57:56 +0000

No contest - from the lovely vocals to the organ to the handclaps, the Croatians are playing my kind of game. I count a goal for each handclap, so the poor Austrians (solid, but clearly lacking in flair) are getting hammered here.

By: Steve Mannion

Steve Mannion — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:59:27 +0000

I usually go with ‘n - two apostrophes just seems like needless complication.

By: koganbot

koganbot — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:02:14 +0000

Or “Blaze ‘N Cook”?!?

By: koganbot

koganbot — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:00:12 +0000

And as long as I’m being compulsive-neurotic about it, is it “Blaze ‘N’ Cook” or “Blaze N’ Cook”?

By: koganbot

koganbot — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:56:50 +0000

Oh poo, my Top 80 for 2008 only has ten songs on it, five of which (”Early Winter,” “Outta My Head,” “Shawty Get Loose,” “Gunpowder and Lead”) were in my last year’s Top 80 but are all singles making impact this year (well, “Outta My Head” never did make impact, despite being way better than anything on Timbo’s own album), and one of which (”Be Mine!”) was in my 2005’s Top 80 (and as soon as those five drop out of my Top 10 they’ll be gone from my list, though I think “Early Winter” could hold on)(and even though I don’t think “Shawty Get Loose” is quite good enough for the final ballot, I like it more than “Lip Gloss” AND it just jumped from 92 to 19 on the Hot 100!).

I finally voted for the Austrians, but if Croatia keeps up the good play I’ll think kindly of their squad next time they face a tiebreaker.

By: Lex

Lex — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:05:10 +0000

so stevem did you actually manage to mis-tag the act’s name AND the title of the song (discogs says it’s PK’s Jiggy Remix) AND the year of release? in a match as tightly fought as this the slightest slip-up could be fatal.

though that said I reserve some suspicions about this so-called “Grupa Žeris”, who don’t even seem to have a presence on last.fm, with or without diacritical mark!

which is to say, I don’t know which I’ll vote for yet: I played AUT first and thought they had it sewn up, loving the groove and the vocals and the fact that it somehow simultaneously has both a street party vibe AND a club-at-4am vibe. impressive.

and then I played CRO! and it’s amazingly irresistible! a style which has been known to turn me off but they deploy their greatest strength to SUPERB effect - those lovely lovely vocals are ridiculously gorgeous.

I played them both again, and still can’t make up my mind. they will both go to the ipod and a decision will be made accordingly, later.

By: Steve Mannion

Steve Mannion — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:47:49 +0000

koganbot, the ‘Blaze N’ Cook’ remix is actually from 2005: http://www.discogs.com/release/410121

sorry if I mis-tagged

By: Steve Mannion

Steve Mannion — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:46:20 +0000

Missing statement from the coach:
“Always there is pressure on a host nation but I urge our opponents to prepare for the pressure we play with on pitch. We don’t have the strength in depth of the bigger nations but we have some surprises up our short sleeves for sure. My players possess an awareness of the modern game that some may underestimate - the technique is most definitely up there with the will to progress to the later stages.”

Vienna-born Stereotyp’s been around for a while and tho a lot of his dancehall and ragga based stuff is derivative there are a few standout tracks in his repertoire. In addition to this collab with Al HacA (A not E on the end - my bad) which immediately reminded me of Seeed I was particularly taken with ‘Cree’ on his myspace plus ‘Ladies Do’, from 2006’s ‘Keepin Me’ LP which sounds like Lauryn Hill remixed by Terranova. Wunderbar!

By: Kat but logged out innit

Kat but logged out innit — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:42:37 +0000

The Turkish management regrets to inform that Ask Sakizi (aka ‘Love Gum’) was an early 2007 release (from a 2006 album).

By: koganbot

koganbot — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:32:25 +0000

By the way, about the two tracks so far that are from 2007 (”Ask Sakizi” and “Blaze N’ Cook”): did either hit fairly late in the year (so that I could get away with putting them onto my Pazz & Jop list)?

By: koganbot

koganbot — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:12:10 +0000

Excellent by both sides. I love the Austrians’ deadpan Caribbean sexiness, which’s got a nice dark threat, aided by a David Bowie type who periodically tells us, in a voice of deadpan horror, to raise our foot - to prevent the black burning embers from scorching our feet, no doubt.

The Croations, meanwhile, sing a terrifically pretty cowboy melody and, by keeping its merriness to a whisper, and throwing in little flecks of eeriness, avoid preciousness. Very nice, so the match comes to Austrian pressure vs. Croation ease.

Damn, don’t know how I’ll vote, since I like whichever one I’m listening to.

By: Matt DC

Matt DC — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:54:07 +0000

No contest whatsoever here I’m afraid. The Austrian track is my favourite entry so far by some distance. The Croats look a bit lightweight up against Austria’s muscular, physical midfield, and although Croatia try a range of cute little flicks and short passes, none of them really come off.

Also, no chance against anything that has the gall to call itself JIGGY REMIX.