14 April 2010
Pop World Cup 2010: Group G – Portugal 2 Brazil 1
Portugal and Brazil share a language and a complex colonial and post-colonial history. Today, however, they share a pop-football pitch, and both sides are still hoping to qualify for the next round. Job de Wit’s Portugal need a win to be sure to progress (though a draw might do); Brazil and Chris A need a win, PLUS the other result in the group going their way. Everything is still to play for here.
This match closes at midnight on Tuesday 20th April
Portugal: Buraka Som Sistema ft Pongo Love – “Kalemba” The Manager Says: “Boistered by a sound win in the last match, we feel ready to tackle the mighty Brazil. This is the big match, the one the players have been looking forward to all this time. We feel ready. The side Portugal is entering is made up of the children of Portugal’s former colonies, much like the 1998 (proper football) World Cup winning French team. Abro a fronteira, não digo lixo, nem digo asneira!”
Length: 3:53 Played: 165 
BRAZIL: Legião Urbana – “Tempo Perdido” The Manager Says: “I have enlisted the help of Brazil’s premier rock band to make sure that Brazil go out with a bang. Go get ‘em boys!”
Length: 5:01 Played: 143
Commentary Box Analysis: The Portuguese once again play a superior kind of dance-pop, a tactic that has served them well so far. We can’t help but notice the awesome name of “Pongo Love”, too. The Brazilians, meanwhile, flushed with their capital-R rock success last time out, stick with the guitars. The most heard phrase in the commentary box is “what’s the most common surname in Brazil?” as we all scramble to make a lame joke out of the somewhat Smiths-y sound.
Group G Match 6: Which track do you prefer?
- PORTUGAL: Buraka Som Sistema (69%, 43 Votes)
- BRAZIL: Legião Urbana (31%, 19 Votes)
Total Voters: 62
Poll closes: 20 April 2010 @ 11:59 pm
Loading ...Coming up: Tomorrow we begin the last of the group games in this year’s tournament: Group H remains an enticing prospect with Honduras taking on Switzerland and Spain tackling Chile.
Tim in FT • pwc10/pwc10 group G • 550 views
I was wondering if Portugal were going to resurrect some of their 2008 squad members! I prefer this track to ‘Sound of Kuduro’ but Brazil is an unknown quotient here and could employ the Dadrock vote to help them out of dire straits.
Burka Som Sistema are the undisputed ace in the Portuguese pack and this track is as ace as they all are.
Tempted to vote against the Brazilian entry for naming and tagging it ‘Song’. And possibly all future managers who don’t tag the MP3s properly for those of us listening on MP3 players.
Very familiar with Buraka – I wrote a lengthy squad profile for a US ‘soccerpop’ website and it was one of my most enjoyable assignments. This track is, frankly, among their most banging – though my familiarity with it gives Brazil an opportunity to grab my vote if they’re any good.
After a shaky start to the tournament this Portugal team are becoming a truly fearsome prospect. Like Octa Push before them this side show that you can fannydangle all you want if you have serious strength and power throughout the team. Is there an entire scene of Portuguese dudes making awesome internationalist banging bass music or is it just these two?
The Brazilian team are pleasant enough but their frontman is weak and they’re in danger of being overrun here.
“Wegue Wegue” is easily one of the club hits I’ve heard the most in the past five years, just a notch below “Calabria” basically, and though I’ve never loved it or its “progressive” origins I can’t help but feel how murderously effective it is on the dance floor.
Portugal have really got into their stride here and become feared in this tournament, much like they were in the Euros too, and again this is a terrific track. As this group may go down to percentage difference I imagine they will at least get a draw. And if only it had been big when I was a kid when Mr Wiggy (Mr White with a toupe) was teaching me.
The Brazilian track is out of time, out of its comfort zone and outclassed. A shock on paper to see Brazil go out, but not one in practice.
portugal just walking them in here
Oh BRA. Oh what are you doing. POR, obviously and easily.
re #4 maybe next Summer or even this Winter there could be a Divided States Of Pop “World” Series. Bagsy not Alaska.
Brazil don’t go out with a bang but with a whimper. Portugal are banging them into the net at will here.
love the portugal track (also glad they’ve got Buraka out of the way before a possible last 16 match against ME ;)), brazil is kind of just weird, who knew there were brazilian smiths copyists…
On the day I think Portugal take this but “Wegue Wegue” might have suffered against stronger competition. It starts out spare, lean and strong, promising great things, but the build-up play doesn’t lead to a really sustained attack on goal. How would it stand up, for instance, to this week’s “big Slovakian Eurobosh”?
Not so clear cut for me this match. Especially the surprising end of the Brazilian team brings a change of pace to the game. The Portuguese do not let up with their constant energy but I am not sure if in the and that is going to be the best strategy.
I’m discerning lots more inventiveness from the Brazilians than my fellow commenters are, a striker who, behind a smooth surface, goes from growl to the hangman’s dance class, with a clompy but spirited backline, flair and flourishes. That said, they’ve been led to the slaughter here, as the Portuguese bring machetes and sharpshooters, focus and ferocity, and really silly fan videos in a compelling effort that made my top ten for ’08, wedged right between Britney and Taylor, and hasn’t lost an iota of force since then.
I wonder if I bear any personal responsibility for this one, because in the eighties, I gave my Brazilian cousin a copy of “Louder Than Bombs”. For all I know, it may have been taped and passed around hundreds of young people desperate for relief from their culture’s prevailing ethos, the same way Vaclav Havel’s battered copy of “White Light/White Heat” did the rounds in communist Prague in the early seventies. That LP, of course, inspired the Plastic People of the Universe and ultimately broke up the soviet bloc through the awesome power of the guitar solo on “I Heard Her Call My Name”, and in a rather similar way, I may have indirectly inspired Legiao Urbana and thus contributed to to the downfall of the superpower Brazil in the PWC. Either that, or there have always been lots of Smiths fans in Brazil.
Anyway, BRA got the vote for that sentimental reason, though I like POR better.
Wegue Wegue! From Fifa 2010! Brilliant! The Samba boys don’t stand the slightest chance here. But I’d question the Portuguese manager’s tactics – isn’t this the sort of superstar you’d want to keep fresh for the knockout stages? Is the aim to qualify from the group, or go and win the whole thing?
This match does seem like a must win for Portugal, with powerful North Korea going for broke in another stadium and both teams on the bubble.
Portugal sent me to Spotify for more Buraka, whereas Brazil made me bored and I left the stadium without making it to the end of the match.
2-1 to POR who continue cooking with gas, undoing BRA with ease and incurring the wrath of Wor Resmat.