Pop World Cup 2010: Round of 16 Match 1 – Nigeria 3 France 2

I might vote against Sade on the basis of her being too well known among Anglo-American music fans, no matter how good the track. But then again it depends on how little-known the track is. And some voters might consider the track too Anglo-American. What you can legitimately play and what people will vote for may be a different matter. I voted on principle against Nelly Furtado representing Portugal way back when for being too well-known and too not Portuguese. (But she won her match, so who am I to give anyone advice about strategy?)

In any event, we can’t claim that the Nigerian manager is ducking the residency or cultural issue with his choice of the JJC squad. But one might wonder what people actually residing in Africa think of this aggregation and their style of play. (But one might also wonder whether anyone residing in Africa has ever voted in the PWC.) Quite enjoyable to this observer, even if history may not be endorse their football cheers and if cultural strife in Nigeria complicates their simplistic goal shooting. Buoyant, putting the ball in the air, though busy bobbing and heading the ball to each other without always advancing matters, and their floaters give the French goalie plenty of time to prepare. Meanwhile, the French striker slices through a seemingly strong Nigerian backline like so much beurre, the defenders not knowing whether to giggle at or be enchanted by her mannered moods. The French midfielders themselves launch effective “Italian” shots against the confused defenders, in an exercise in pan-Europeanism. A vote here for France.

By the way, when Tom Mallon reviewed “Budapest” for the now-defunct Paper Thin Walls (whose server has since literally melted down, apparently), he described it thus: “What kicks off sounding like an LCD Soundsystem leftover, all four-on-the-floor beats and beep-boop bass, slowly devolves into a rohypnol nightmare, battered on all sides by bloody smears of shrieking strings and shards of guitar. Guest vocalist Olga Kouklaki oozes bored sex appeal as she lazily rides the ‘paranoid express,’ eventually rising to a shriek as the drugs kick in and the city burns.” And a bit further on he offers us this visitors guide: “Equal parts sex and danger, ‘Budapest’ sounds like a great place to get laid… if you don’t mind being stabbed shortly after.”