Poland take on Portugal for a place in the semis. Play the tracks, vote, and look below the cut for managerial comment, track ID, analysis, results and previews. Please don’t download the tracks unless you intend to vote – thanks!
How to vote: Just tick the track you like best. You have until lunchtime MONDAY 9th JUNE to vote in this poll.
Poland v Portugal: Which Of These Tracks Do You Prefer? [ballot]
- Portugal: Buraka Som Sisteme 55%
- Poland: Sidney Polak 45%
Total Voters: 22
Poll closes: 10 Jun 2008 @ 10:54

POLAND: Sidney Polak – “Chorwat (ft Michael Lovrisa)”
The manager says: “We are Poland. We have given you women. You have enjoyed the women. Now we give you men. Men at a hundred miles an hour. We are Poland. Marvel at our dexterity. Quiver at our relentlessness. Genuflect towards our pun. We are Poland. Are we not magnificent?”
Our analyst says: Poland are playing an attacking game based around the vicious pace of their strikeforce, expertly fed from midfield. With the technical skills to match their speed this side are a daunting proposition.
PORTUGAL: Buraka Som Sisteme – “Sound Of Kudoro”
The manager says: “The stuff from Portugal they call ‘white kudoro’, fake, doesn’t have what the sound from Angola has. Buraka Som Sistema are kind of the exception, total crossover sound, everyone’s down with it, y’know? You should watch the video, the dancing is insane.
The first time I heard this, the MIA bits kind of grated; now they’re a revelation, a proper master of ceremonies job. It sounds like she’s endorsing everyone in sight, like she’s the most famous person here.”
Our analyst says: Portugal match Poland for pace and invention, and what they lack in technique they make up for with a harder physical edge to their play. This should be a firecracker game – Portugal are throwing bodies up the pitch and both sides are desperate to score.
MATCH REPORT: Switzerland 2 Germany 0: In a surprisingly sparsely attended game, Switzerland sealed an easy passage to the semi finals against a lacklustre German side whose dubiously German striker simply never got into the game. Germany’s methodical approach could only take them so far, and their efforts to slow down play simply made space for the tidy Swiss finishers to prosper. All in all a disappointing tournament for the Germans, while the Swiss are now only two games from national glory.
COMING NEXT: Monday’s game is between two teams fresh from their first wins of the tournament: France topped their highly competitive group and have delighted commentators with some effervescent play, while three points against a self-destructing Sweden gave Russia‘s tournament bid some much-needed momentum. The Russians never expected to get this far, and France will surely start favourites, but it’s by no means a foregone conclusion.
Anal spelling note: Their MySpace spells the band’s name Buraka Som Sistema and the song title “Sound Of Kuduro.”
Ace match in which Portugal finally plays its ace! I was wondering when Buraka Som Sistema would show up.
Poland. I love it when a non-English rap sounds at home in its own language and sounds nonduplicable anywhere else. The aggressive speed beats fit this, as do the fractured easternisms, simultaneously melancholy and savage.
Portugal. This grabbed me when I first heard it on poptimists and still does. Fiercely cosmopolitan and fiercely African, with a British-Tamil MC, has a great gallop, steering and careening through an obstacle course, kicking at the competitors.
I want to vote for both. Portuguese propulsion versus deep Polish intensity. Man, I don’t know. I’m more familiar with the Portuguese propulsion, which may be giving it an edge, but the Poles gain strength with each replay.
Yes, very hard to decide which way to vote. Portugal has marginally more energy, Poland meshes better into a whole song. The managers have shown their opponents a lot of respect and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the highlight of the knockout stages.
I just hope more people actually vote!
I think the shorter game time has an effect on voting numbers certainly, although it’s difficult to understand why so few of the 300 odd people attracted by the Swiss track bothered to vote.
Yes, the shorter game time is bound to have an impact – unfortunately we need it so a) we don’t drag on beyond the tournament itself ending! and b) the semi-finalists have reasonable time to find tracks.
I find I have a bit more online time this week, so will endeavour to participate in this now we’ve reached the KO stages. (I missed out on CH v DE grrr …but having just listened to them it transpires I’m a bit meh about both tracks anyway.)
By contrast Pol v Port is a cracker. I already know “Sound of Koduro” very well – it was good enough to feature on one of my pop mix CDs this year. So ironically I’m predisposed against this one. The Polak had to do more than just show up, though. I wasn’t sure about it at first (the opening two minutes are a bit too ‘Hava Nagila’ for my liking) but as soon as the 7/4 section kicked in my vote was secured.
Also: I am most amused by the Sydney Pollack (RIP) ref
I’ve always liked Hava Nagila myself. And since the Portuguese tune runs along at a galloping gait, and since Polak is known for shooting horses, Poland has several weapons in its arsenal. But I still haven’t decided how to vote.
Sigh. OK, I finally went Portuguese, deciding that the great rhythm ‘n’ beats of the Poles – the rapper as well as the beat machines – still didn’t totally overcome the fairly standard melodic material (not Hava Nagila enough), whereas the Portuguese and their Angolan and British helpers had nonstop yammers and textures as well as rhythm ‘n’ beats that could more than match the competition. But a strong battle from the Poles, and given the previous entries from both sides I wouldn’t be sad about either going through.
Portugal – OLE! This is the best example so far of the Europop team perfectly mirroring the real football team. Solid backbone, flying wingers, flicks and tricks all over the park, and then… not much upfront, other than a brief flurry early on. But at the same time, it’s mesmerising, brilliant, how the game should be played.
Poland – lose automatically by blowing all Italian tactical plans for the next round. Hip-hop drum and bass formations go straight in the bin, recriminations all round, assistant manager pulled into a series of urgent meetings. Voting Portugal out of both quality and spite.
(I would say that my track was harder, faster, and had more flair and more big fat operatic tenor samples than anything in the whole of Poland, but that might sound like sour grapes)
Excellent tracks both! The Turkish management is leaning towards the Portuguese right now (no group stage bitterness from us) but that might just be because we’ve been listening to Santogold’s ‘Creator’ a lot and anything that sounds a bit like that but faster gets an instant tickvg.
What a fantastic game – goals all over the place there, it’s great to see two teams playing with such attacking flair at this stage of the tournament.
Ultimately for me though it’s Portugal’s multiple strikers who manage to just edge past in the end. But all credit to Poland too – this is easily the highlight of the tournament so far, and I think some of the other managers need to start worrying.
Tough one this for me – Poland reminded me of Trip to Trumpton or Sesame’s Street. It had an odd whiff of a group that read KLFs the Manual to me. Portugal were pounding the afro rhythms like Manolo (who I know is Spanish) on the drum, like the funnest guest at a crazy party. Who to vote for? Does this sound a warning to the (apparently favoured) French? Is it time to step up? Is the two rounds ahead strategy I’ve worked good enough with such stiff competition?
I think I’ll vote for Poland, because I hate Cristiano Ronaldo. Tough, tough, tough…
Think I like the forthcoming Buraka Som Sistema single, “Kalembe Wegue Wegue,” even more. (Alternate spelling of title: “Kalemba Wegue Wegue.”)
Votes in this need to be in by tomorrow lunchtime.
Because the Russia coach has university exams, today’s game won’t be up until tomorrow, so I’ve extended the voting on this one for a day too. (It’s had 20 votes so far, which is better than the 1st QF but could still go higher)
is time to close this?
Yes – I have FRA v RUS now.
Congratulations Portugal on a close-fought win, and Poland for an excellent track.
Switzerland v Portugal in the semi-final then: a Group A rematch!