Here we go then, this is where it all gets hectic, and the calculators come out to decide who goes through to the round of 16 and who gets sent home. We’ll be doing TWO matches per day, so that, as in the football based world cup, the groups finish at the same time. First up it’s Group A, with both Mexico and Uruguay dependent on the other game’s result, and the Mexicans in particular needing a stonking win to advance, we should be in for a rollicking tie.
This match will close at midnight on Sunday 11th April
MEXICO: Rodriga y Gabriela – “Stairway to Heaven” The Manager Says: “Disgraceful…. grumble, grumble…. referees are against us…. rant, rant…. wouldn’t know good football if it bit them on the arse…. rage, rage…. we’ll go home, but we’ll go home in style… rave, rave…. Rodrigo y Gabriela…. expletive, expletive…. ¡que la chupen!”
Audio PlayerURUGUAY: El Cuarteto De Nos – “Nada Es Gratis En La Vida” The Manager Says: “That South Africa result was undeniably a disappointment, but for our final group match we’re fielding an experienced team (El Cuarteto have been together since 1980) who know that a loss doesn’t need to mean the end. So with open voice and boundless optimism, we’re storming the pitch and playing for the sheer joy of the game. Hoorah!”
Audio PlayerGroup A match 5: Which of these tracks do you prefer? [ballot]
- MEXICO: Rodrigo y Gabriela 54%
- URUGUAY: El Cuarteto De Nos 46%
Total Voters: 65
Poll closes: 11 Apr 2010 @ 23:00
Loading ...Commentary Box Analysis Both teams aiming for a classical formation here. Mexico going for a very surprising, yet incredibly well-known track, Uruguay opting for something not so obvious but still with a team that will ring a few bells, certainly with those who’ve been paying attention to the British leagues of the last few years.
Result! Portugal 2 North Korea 1 A stunning victory for the Portuguese here in an match played in front of the largest crowd of the tournament so far. “Portugal have just fielded one of the starting XIs of the tournament for me.” “What they lack in flair, this Portugal team more than make up for in power, and the results are pretty awesome.” “the battle is Dancing vs Laughing. Which is better? Dancing? or laughing? Dancing…laughing…”
Coming next The real decider in the group as South Africa take on France, coming up in just a minute or two!
Cripes, the Uruguayan Scouting For Girls vs Led Zeppelin Classical Moods. We talk about strength and depth in squads, I don’t blame Uruguay, but sure the Mexican crowd are leaving already. I think this may be an easy win for Uruguay, unless suddenly the classical guitar becomes THE MOST POPULAR INSTRUMENT EVER in the next week. Which could well put the hotly tipped France in all sorts of hot water.
I don’t think either the French or South African camps were expecting any favours from Mexico but JESUS H CHRIST.
..er by which I mean the Mexican track is a beautiful arrangement of a well known classic and you should all vote for it, even if the first FULL MINUTE sounds like Rodrigo and Gabriela picking up a guitar for the FIRST TIME EVER.
The Uruguayan song I believe translates as “Nothing Is Free In Life”. EXCEPT THESE THREE POINTS, I suspect.
Ha, the Scouting For Girls comparison is harsh, I prefer to think of it as a non-mopey Snow Patrol (although it appears El Cuarteto De Nos are actually something akin to the Uruguayan U2, at least in terms of longevity and popularity, if not irritatingness). Picked this song with the thought that, should I go home this week, it’d sound nice played over my highlights package.
Following their manager’s communication breakdown Mexico seem dazed and confused. There’s clearly not a whole lotta love for their creaking performance and they risk being trampled underfoot by a confident Uruguayan team. I’ve got a feeling that the latter also seem to have picked up some moves from the one of last years US league leaders.
i was thinking snow patrol too…
Given that MEX need a good 30 percentage point margin to stand a chance of getting through, I think we’re down to a three horse race to be honest…
Personally I’m partial to Rodrigo Y Gabriela’s version of “Orion” by Metallica. Love these guys, they ripped it up at Glastonbury.
Vastly prefer Mexico myself, what with so many quick runs and strums. Uruguay seems to be pushing through fields of wet grain, despite an occasional light-footed sunny stretch in falsetto.
The Latin- and South American managers in PWC10 have regularly gone with the rock (or rock-influenced) choice to much derision from the stands. The comments have been a bit condescending too: “get back to dancing round yr hats or break out the samba or something”. (I’m exaggerating obv, but not much!) Am feeling the Mexican manager’s anger here. MEX certainly didn’t deserve to emerge from their brilliant showing in their last match pointless.
All that said, I’m puzzled by the team selections here, especially when securing the three points is so vital for both teams. I’ve managed not to hear any R Y G before now, and kinda assumed from reviews they were a livelier pair than this track suggests. It’s pretty ‘n all but I think I’d rather listen to the Far Corporation version of “Stairway”. Uruguay meanwhile seem to be deliberately aiming to underwhelm but I do like the precision guitar strumming, it’s almost robotic.
You are all wrong, this is actually the best Mexican track so far. I do like a bit of classical guitar and I also like a bit of Zeppelin, also I feel a bit sorry for them for the kicking they’re getting here. The Uruguay track is the sort of lumpen barely-rhythmic indie I rant and rave against British people for making so I don’t see why I should make an exception here.
Since Mexico has never been much of a pop country anyway, I’m going to give my seal of approval (albeit late) to this nicely witty baroque rerendering.
I can’t bring myself to vote for either of these. A classical guitar version of maybe the most overrated song of all time, and some crappy indie. A plague on both their houses.
Bollocks to the claim at #11 — Mexico’s been the center of the universe for Latin pop for fifty years. Which is why it’s been so heartbreaking to watch the manager pick out enervating rock en espanol tracks which however fine don’t do a bit of justice to the great dance, regional and hybrid music that’s been coming out of Mexico for the past decade; you could field a dynamite squad just with what Mexico has in the US Latin chart today. (God the new Julieta Venegas is great.)
Different strategies for different managers, of course; and if Mexico pulls off this longshot I’ll tip my hat to them. I’ll certainly take their left-field ambition over an Uruguayan track which sounds like a hundred I’ve rejected for Argentina.
These are both TOTAL SHITE. Lasted a minute into MEX before wanting to die from boredom, lasted 20 seconds into URU, ie until his voice came in. Which would make it an ideal situation for me to just vote guilt-free for whichever would help my chances, except…I can’t work out who I should be voting for, tactically :( I am not good with percentages. Can someone tell me? (Not Tom!)
It’s in both our interests for Mexico to do as well as possible Lex! If Uruguay wins you have to win too. If Uruguay loses you can lose and still have a chance of going through.
Oh OK, that pretty much settles it then! And I did get a little further into the MEX track.
Wow, there’s a real sense of bitterness in the comments for some of these final group matches. I can honestly say I’ve not spent 2 months researching Uruguayan pop so I can “deliberately aim to underwhelm”. I can’t speak for the other South American teams, but in the case of Uruguay it’s not ignorance that’s led me to lean towards rock rather than the western-sounding dancepop that keeps winning the other matches…it’s the fact that Uruguay just doesn’t have any western-sounding dancepop. And then there’s this idea that we “should” be playing tracks that sound more traditionally South American…but the Candombe track I played last time round got no points, so that’s clearly not what people actually want.
Won’t be too upset if I do get knocked out at this point to be honest. It’s an increasingly unfun process, this.
Apologies if I’ve contributed to the lack of fun, Jim. A certain amount of fatigue has I think set in, but I don’t think any of us can afford to take the comments on our teams personally, any more than musicians can with reviews, or football players with opposing fans.
The fact that often the loudest voices in the comment boxes (mine very much included!) aren’t particularly reflected in the actual voting may be of some comfort.
I like the PWC as a set-up because it makes you balance three things: the music of the country, the individual tastes of a manager, and the preferences of the voters. The flaw is that the third of these is least interesting but most important. Even so it does generally reward effort and I’m sorry you feel that effort’s going unappreciated, Jim.
Something that’s happened this time that didn’t in 2006 (smaller voting pool) or 2008 (cos everyone knows the ‘rules’ of European pop) is that there’s MUCH more comment on what managers “should” be doing – the 5 Live phone-in element of the conversation, if you like. This backseat driving seems particularly true of the South and Central American countries. Part of me likes this as it’s exposing some really interesting attitides. But also I completely understand that it must be a total pain in the arse as a manager and can reduce the fun of the competition significantly.
I’m going to do a separate post exploring some of that stuff and maybe siphoning off a bit of that conversation, which ought to reduce some of the harshness in the main threads.
Of course, not taking it personally is good advice, and I don’t mean to get into a sulk or anything. :)
Perhaps the fatigue on my part is coming from the endless trawling through what’s actually a fairly limited set of options.
Yeah I think this is an issue – obviously you have the big countries (USA, England, Sweden, Brazil, Japan) who you know have tons of options. Then the second-tier ones – most of the Africans, some of the Latins, some of the Europes – who have plenty of stuff but it needs digging and a bit of research. And then the countries where you play basically whatever you can get that’s remotely good.
And a lot of the grief comes from spectators thinking you’re managing a top-tier country when it’s a second-tier, or a second-tier when it’s a third-tier.
(The entire qn might be moot as now the Digital Economy Bill has passed Freaky Trigger can be BLOCKED BY THE MAN for running this kind of thing.)
I’m with you on this whole thing becoming increasingly unfun, JimD.
Jim if you could get Uruguay through it would be a fantastic achievement and you’d be a national hero (you probably already are for the surprise victory over France)! To be in with such a good chance of doing so is a testament to yourself and the PWC, being a debutant manager with a team who didn’t qualify for the last PWC and a real unknown quantity. Sorry if you’ve not been enjoying it but you’ve done very well with limited resources it seems.
Light instrumental music is a most cautious approach for the Mexicans, but if it wasn’t for being THIS SONG (why anyone would be covering it in this day or age I don’t know!) I’d probably plump for it here. That said, I’ve played cover versions of famous songs myself in past tournaments so can’t really begrudge MEX for this (tho I might if they were among the favourites). Happy to see R&G making an appearance in the tournament but I would rather it been one of their own songs – too little too late I fear.
I feel bad now for being so vociferous about the Mexican choice – I was “in character” as the S Africa team spokesman but even so it was a bit harsh – sorry Tom if I’ve contributed to the unfun :(
I think there’s a need generally for going a bit easy on debutants and/or people who aren’t already in the habit of ribald criticism towards and from people they actually know (or know will take it well enough). That’s my advice! Still, anyone routinely overdoing the unconstructive negativity (tongue-in-cheek or not) probably decreases their own chances of progress (because just as in the real world, good players are not enough). It’s a tough balance to strike tho a tournament with character alongside memorable music.
Eh? In the real world, good players are totally enough. You don’t need anything else!
Would agree on the debutants point but I’ve completely forgotten who each country’s manager actually is, could we start putting them at the top of each match again please?
Including manager names in the opening post e.g. “Jim D says:” would actually be helpful (e.g. for googlers who go straight to specific matches and not thru the PWC site index) I think yes. The manager’s name can link to their own site too (if they have one inc. Twitters or whatever they prefer). I’ll look at inserting them into previous and future posts unless there are any objections.
Yes, a reminder of the managers would be useful esp the first time managers, and apologies if I came off too harsh at the top (and I am sure it will cost me votes). Second guessing the audience is always tricky, and of course in any competition there will be losers, but the fun of the game is in these comments – the range of opinions and knowledge of these countries music makes them fascinating to read.
Hi, Jim. Sorry you took my comment about this URU track badly. I was thinking more about how it would play with the FT regulars than your motives, honestly. And I am totally with you and the MEX manager as regards your central complaint, as in fact I said upthread.
Also, the comments of a dozen or so frequently don’t reflect the votes of the majority.