Comments on: Europop 2008: Group C - Holland 0 Italy 2

By: Doctor Mod

Doctor Mod — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 02:47:11 +0000

Something quite different next time . . . .

By: Matt DC

Matt DC — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:21:16 +0000

Blimey, I had expected it to be closer than that. Despite the three points on the table, the Italian manager will be issuing a stern reprimand to his team for their complacency.

I think the Dutch team were hard done by a little and may have suffered from a backlash against somewhat conservative tactics. This doesn’t bode well for Sweden.

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:13:27 +0000

Excellent result for the Italians - 2 points clear at the top of this group. With the other game drawn the Dutch have every opportunity for redemption though.

Today’s match has been postponed - no sign of the Russia manager yet!

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:01:17 +0000

golden earring? what a shower

By: Kat but logged out innit

Kat but logged out innit — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:18:01 +0000

Strong match here! Being fairly unfamiliar with the Dutch tactics they will be tricky to beat. Yet the Italians have cleverly tapped into the Kool & The Gang vibe to bolster up their side.

By: Doctor Mod

Doctor Mod — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 03:12:40 +0000

If you want rap in Dutch, I can give it to you next time around.

(But, considering what Dutch sounds like to begin with, and what rap sounds like to begin with, it ain’t pretty . . . .)

By: Gerhard Whippenpfeiffer (assistant coach)

Gerhard Whippenpfeiffer (assistant coach) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:26:15 +0000

what is this ‘Britain’ talk? this isn’t the Olympics y’know (actually that might’ve been a good way of doing this - emo = javelin, electropop = pole vault etc.)

By: lex

lex — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:20:22 +0000

it’s not all about speed stevem, touch is important too!

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:57:09 +0000

“Vote difference” will be the deciding factor, and then votes received.

By: Matt DC

Matt DC — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:53:55 +0000

We’ll find out if there are groups where all teams are on two points after two games. Conceivably we could get a few where there are three teams on three points after three games, which could be a bit tricky.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:27:23 +0000

I think people can use whatever criteria they want to vote: personally I’d vote for an awesome track I knew very well over an average track I didn’t, but probably not over a good one I didn’t. In this particular case I decided I didn’t know “Radar Love” well anyway except by reputation, so judged the tracks on their merits. It was still close - both managers have talked their tracks up a bit on this one: Golden Earring are indeed full of rock energy but that energy is spread a bit thin over 6 minutes. And Piotta may well be disco but the disco elements are rather dominated by the rap ones. I voted Golden Earring by a whisker.

I should also say that there is no rule at all against voting for yourself! A couple of people have put themselves at a minor disadvantage so far by not doing so.

(Now we’ve been running for a few games, I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have included “Draw” as one of the voting options (and then let the result be decided by a straight first-past-the-post system) - there’s been a couple of occasions where my preference hasn’t been very strong either way, as here.)

By: Doctor Mod

Doctor Mod — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:12:59 +0000

If Britain ran “West End Girls,” I’d vote for it.

By: Matt DC

Matt DC — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:40:28 +0000

Haha there is an ENORMOUS amount of “we are scary gangstas and if you don’t believe us we will kill you with guns” Italian rap that totally fails the ‘not sounding goofy’ test, to Anglo ears at least.

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:07:32 +0000

I have a pretty high Eurorap tolerance but I thought it was fine. The European rapping I don’t like is the “noes we must not sound goofy must keep our flow serious” type.

By: stevem

stevem — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:56:50 +0000

The rap doesn’t seem that bad at all - I mean could Pitbull do it at that tempo? ;)

By: Lex

Lex — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:18:28 +0000

Highly disappointing from both teams. The Italian entry would be a lot better without that terrible rap; even then, it wins by default over the Dutch entry, which would only be better if everything about it was different. But this is a very lacklustre match.

By: Pete Baran

Pete Baran — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:30:25 +0000

I played Radar Love once at Poptimism. As such I fear I cannot vote for it, I know it all too well as it features on my Dad’s Best Of Drivetime tape, and thus every early nineties journey in a car featured it.

It would win a Masters World Cup.

That said, the Italian one has some quite nice production, but dull as dishwater rapping. May wait on this one a bit to see how I feel about the Dutch tactic.

By: Matt DC

Matt DC — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:27:27 +0000

I prefer to think of our main striker as “tidy in possession”.

By: koganbot

koganbot — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:20:31 +0000

(Thought the crowds treated the Italians very shabbily in the Pop World Cup.)

By: koganbot

koganbot — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:16:54 +0000

But I’ve not heard it all that much either. And it’s good!

By: koganbot

koganbot — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:16:07 +0000

Actually, #13 in the U.S. and #7 in Britain.

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:14:24 +0000

Yes, I thought “oh too obvious” (while hiding away my Aphrodite’s Child mp3s) but then I realised I’d never actually HEARD “Radar Love”, or hardly ever, I just knew of it. And it’s good!

By: koganbot

koganbot — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:08:07 +0000

Netherlands: Rolling drums, eight-to-the-bar fake boogie, galomphing vocals, and a tremendously well-constructed song, would seem to be on its way to victory when, in a controversial move, under new Europop rules, they were penalized A GOAL AND A HALF for violating the spirit of the competition by being too obvious and well-known by half (#14 in the U.S., #8 in Britain). (I mean, what if Britain decided to play “West End Girls”? I’d disqualify the side.) Others of you (say, those born after 1970) might disagree.

Italy: With its unexpected advantage, what does Italy do? Start very promisingly with genuine ripped-off funky break beats, and I’m touched by the guilelessness of the rapping; problem is that until the crazy gruff guy comes along about 2 minutes in, the rapping itself is far too plain.

So can Italy capitalize on its opponents’ misfortune? (Not sure. “Radar Love,” despite its excellence, goes on a bit, doesn’t it? But it is strong. I don’t know. Is my penalty too severe?)

By: Gerhard Whippenpfeiffer (assistant coach)

Gerhard Whippenpfeiffer (assistant coach) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:24:58 +0000

Nice legs these Italian players…UM, I MEAN…nice bit of flair, qualities you’d expect up front. Love the Dutch too but is their total football sexy enough?

By: Kat but logged out innit

Kat but logged out innit — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:24:24 +0000

Either the streams aren’t working or my work has blocked them :(