Comments on: Pop World Cup 2010: Group D – Ghana 3 Serbia 0

By: Matt DC

Matt DC — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:10:51 +0000

I think autotune is very easy to employ badly and quite difficult to use well. That said I’m not sure autotune was necessarily Serbia’s problem in this game.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:47:53 +0000

I don’t think the autotune’s a problem necessarily – South Korea came within a vote of winning and used it to the max.

I think what happened here is a lot of people (me included!) liked both and decided Ghana edged it, and it ended up with a one-sided vote that didn’t really reflect the balance of play. Congratulations to the Ghana manager though and I hope the Serbians can bounce back in their next game.

By: Lex

Lex — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:44:05 +0000

I’m shocked this was so one-sided.

WTF is people’s issue with Autotune?

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:56:30 +0000

Woo-hoo! Go Ghana!

By: weej

weej — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:36:26 +0000

I think the biggest lesson of the tournament so far is “avoid autotune”.

By: Steve Mannion

Steve Mannion — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:26:11 +0000

Woah yeah this is harsh. Cruelly denied at least one goal the Serbs, never offside!

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:03:11 +0000

Brutal result for the Serbs.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:57:40 +0000

You only have until the end of today to vote in this!

By: Birdseed

Birdseed — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:49:32 +0000

The team quality here is amazing – generally both teams are incredibly solid at all positions, potentially making this perhaps the best and hardest-fought game in the contest so far. Let’s see if it translates to a good game…

Ghana start of a bit confused, but some beautifully timed harmony between the midfielders and strikers sees them score an early surprise opener, before settling into a well-considered pace to keep the opponents at bay. Serbia’s marvellous oriental-melismatic-autotune attack seems to no avail, until just after the break a quick set-piece that seems to borrow from bhangra more than any middle-eastern tactics gets them a quick goal. Soon afterwards they score again with the autotune, which sends Ghana on a mad pace to try to catch up – scoring one with only the last quarter to go, it’s all apace, and should rightly be a draw – until Serbia sends in another autotune-delivered beauty. 3-2 to Serbia, what a belter of a game!

By: Matt DC

Matt DC — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:14:50 +0000

A quick search reveals her to be the WAG of soon-to-be-unemployed Portsmouth defender Duško Tošić, so she may have fallen on hard times lately.

By: lex

lex — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:08:31 +0000

Both solid 7/10 tracks for me; standard, not spectacular. The speed-rapper pushes GHA into the lead, I think. I’ve heard a bit of Jelena Karleusa before (isn’t she the daughter of a Mafia boss or something? Or a Serbian MP?) and suspect that this is the kind of manic turbo-folk she’s pumped out in her sleep for most of her career.

By: jeff w

jeff w — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:22:58 +0000

Both these songs are in the same key. Which I remark upon just to highlight that the two tracks may in fact have more similarities than differences, in spite of appearances. I do like Ghana’s speed-rapper and yes, he’s certainly worth a goal. On the other hand, Serbia’s all round attacking play cannot be denied. If they grab at least a point by the final whistle then it will only be justice IMHO.

By: koganbot

koganbot — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 07:34:48 +0000

Holy cow! This is the match of the tournament so far. Serbia comes on running like a hurricane and slicing with AutoTune, scoring while the Ghanaians have barely warmed up. They keep pushing, riffing the freestyle so that the attack never goes stale; and while the striker tends to tire herself out, she’s got support on the left side by equally deft teammates. Yet the Ghanaians counter with the most versatile performance we’ve seen, employing freestyle and misdirection of their own, nonstop glides and passes that look easy and unhurried, but they evade tackles and baffle defenders with complete aplomb. Seem to have an unending number of strikers as well, one stepping forward, another moving into support, quick footwork and subtle headwork. They score an equalizer, the Serbians respond with yet more ferocity, but the ball tends to stay with Ghana, and Serbia finally has trouble taking it away. My deep respect to Serbia, but congratulations to Ghana for the better performance.

By: Steve Mannion

Steve Mannion — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:17:00 +0000

I can only echo above comments re the Ghanaian supersub but it’s a solid performance from them generally despite an early synth-brass howler nearly gifting their opponents an early lead. Serbia could find themselves losing without actually playing too badly themselves. I’m expecting a draw but Matt’s right re goal of the tournament so far!

By: Martin Skidmore

Martin Skidmore — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:12:06 +0000

I like the end of the Ghanaian track, with what sounds like an old bloke babbling on unstoppably – I see Abedi Pele called in for the last 10 minutes of a must-win match and dribbling through four defenders before rounding the goalkeeper and slotting home from a tight angle. So despite consistently strong play from Serbia, Pele’s dramatic injury time winner gives it to Ghana.

By: Jonathan Bogart

Jonathan Bogart — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:25:52 +0000

Ghana may be accused of showboating, but to my mind they’ve proven themselves to have the skills to back it up. Star players or no star players, if you can score that consistently and strongly you deserve the win.

Meanwhile, Serbia’s forward lineup attempts to showboat and falls flat on its face. Cybernetic enhancements are really only valuable in certain styles of play, and their weedy, falling-to-the-ground-at-the-hint-of-a-tackle performance does them no favors.

Both teams’ defensive sides do excellent work, but here again I have to give the edge to Ghana: their clipped, efficient power makes up for what foolhardy attackers might think of as sparse coverage. Serbia’s old-world elegance looks pretty on paper, but there’s not a chance in the world they can keep up with those blur-legged forwards.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:51:14 +0000

I’m giving this one to Ghana for a true team effort — Serbia’s flash and bang, though it flashes and bangs admirably, gets in a few crucial early points but then succumbs to general fatigue. Ghana’s in it for the long haul.

By: Matt DC

Matt DC — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:19:16 +0000

That’s some performance from the Ghanaian sub there towards the end. But it’s no mere fannydangle, it’s a magnificent solo effort, collecting the ball at the half way line then leaving three defenders on their arse, wrong-footing the keeper and putting the ball right into the top corner. He then runs the length of the pitch to soak up the applause from the Ghanaian fans. I’m a sucker for ridiculous fast and fluent rapping in languages I can’t understand, but for me that’s still the best individual goal of the tournament so far.

Serbia gamely hoof it forward and I like the electro backing a lot here, but like so many Eastern European teams in these tournaments they fall down in front of goal with a naff vocalist. So Ghana for me.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:49:21 +0000

I really do respect Ghana here, playing a good game.

Serbia is in fact a REAL footballer’s wife, which combined with frenzy-pop, wins it for me. I’ve never had insomnia that sounded like that before, mind.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:10:06 +0000

Ghana manager says: I have the utmost respect for Tim and his Serbian team and was expecting a tough tactical battle. Both sides like to play fluid attacking music so it should be a good game for the neutral. It’s vital to get off to a good start in such a tough group, we can’t afford any slip-ups. I’ve reminded my players of the importance of keeping focused for the full 90 minutes. Go Ghana!

By: Kat but logged out innit

Kat but logged out innit — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:22:16 +0000

Entertaining play from both sides – Serbia’s defensive hoover tactics battling Ghana’s dexterity on the ball. I might have to listen to both again in extra time before I vote!

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:15:31 +0000

The substitute Ghana bring on near the end is quite something, though I can imagine his endless stepovers infuriating some spectators.

Tempted by Ghana here – the Serbia track has everything a modern pop song needs except a killer chorus, but maybe future plays will reveal it can do without one.

By: Ewan

Ewan — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:11:39 +0000

This is a really tough match to judge! It could go either way, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the teams’ respective strengths cancel each other out and this ends up a goalless draw, though it certainly won’t be a boring one to watch.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:54:04 +0000

Comical moments as the ref loses his whistle at kick-off.

By: Alan not logged in

Alan not logged in — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:51:36 +0000

it’s open results at the moment too.