Both were terrific, but when I found myself singing said fish / sun couplet to myself the other day I knew it had to be Slovenia.

I know v. little about rai but it’s on my shortlist of “genres to get into when I am old”; commentators complaining that it’s unvarying or whatevz need to understand that not everything is a 3-minute verse-chorus-verse pop song, and to stop being so bloody conservative in their demands. The virtues of length and repetition are plentiful, and there’s so much detail in the arrangement, different instruments working with and against each other; it seduces by hypnotising.

The SLO track has a great chorus but it’s the kind of MOR-pop track that stands or falls on its lyrics; it’s got many English-language counterparts, some of which I’ve loved and some of which I’ve hated, but when I don’t get any sense of narrative or lyrical detail it’s not something I can care about either way. That said there is a point in the chorus where it sounds suddenly like she slips into English to sing “you turn off the sun as you wish / like a switched-off light to a fish” – I assume she doesn’t actually do this.

ALG it is.

Slovenia, on the other hand… perhaps it’s just my own personal dislike for their style of play, but there’s something very late-90s Lilith Fair about it, and I don’t mean that in a complimentary sense. (As for the Jethro Tullism, that’s a strong strike against them in my book. Flutes are one thing; low-end riffs that bring to mind a middle-aged man on one foot are something else entirely.) They’ve got the imagination, but I don’t think they have the strength to take it away from a uniformly, even boringly dominant Algeria.

they must be talking about those deep sea fish with the bulbs coming out of their heads. marvellous.

i thought the slovenes were just about holding there own here, but last minute own-goal with the flute to my mind.

How about some BOSH next time though Kat, eh?

The second half is painful to watch though, both teams failing to come up with anything to match their earlier flair. And Algeria’s real problems come just as they think they’re safe: 3 minutes of injury time. In those closing minutes they’re just worn out, and Slovenia take advantage with a last minute substitution…it’s only Jethro bleeding Tull! He dances round the Algerian keeper and pops in the winner. 2-1 to Slovenia!

That post-punkish spirit in the Algeria track – with the power pop drums and the lovely pitch-bending synth part that lies somewhere between “Pipeline” and “Oh Bondage! Up Yours” – is fantastic, and totally belies the “Algeria’s disco” idea in favour of something much more complex and awkward-fitting. Best track so far in the competition for me, and a hands-down win against the listless Slovenian FM rock.

Slovenia are the fist smallish European nation we have had so far, and this is not far off what I would expect. A solid little pop song with enough of a bonkers chorus to be lovable. But, the Rai, the Rai, and part of me wants to see that win so we ge3t it out of the way for my match. Good teams, good managers, closeish I think.

“You, you turn off the sun as you wish
Like you switched out the light to a fish”

is the kind of inspired play I rarely see in our national leagues and that’s one reason I love the PWC.