Welcome to the knockout stages of the Pop World Cup. At this point, the rules are very simple indeed. Two tracks, vote for the one you like best. Here we have Chris’ Cameroon, who topped Group A with 7.5 points, against lartsaegis’ Chile side, runners-up in Group B with 5.
CAMEROON: Numerica – “Vas-y Moto”
Why is Numerica wearing a military uniform to Douala’s hottest club? How did he use some rather persistent AutoTune to make himself sound like a cartoon bear? And where did that one lady get her pink bowtie?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FBbAJIhxrs
CHILE: Amanitas – “Loft De Benni”
“Being opposite of Cameroon, one of the best teams in the PWC, makes us feel like we’ve still got a lot to prove in the hearts of the public. Coming into the knockouts by the skin of our bared teeth, I had a surplus of pitch candidates, a camellia in my blazer’s buttonhole, and three directives: shift the gender ratio, thin the herd, and make sure that there are no fundamentally weak links, just differently designed ones in terms of play style. Chile has made me fortunate as a music fan. With the full female five-tet Amanitas, I play a first ballot favorite, and hope you do too. With them I’m prepared to play each match as if it’s my last (even if it is), to go with it, go with it, and just jam. This track and its protagonist, Beni, reminds me of the drive and energy that Jamiroquai’s Cosmic Girl or Love Foolosophy have as a muse, but I think she’s sleeker, more fit, more wily. I think they’re a natural pair: “She carries sweetly infectious magic formulas…” Beni is the spirit of the band, living in song, where incoherency works joined to creativity by both reason and force.”
R16 1: Cameroon v Chile - Which Do You Pick? [ballot]
- CHILE: Amanitas 55%
- CAMEROON: Numerica 45%
Total Voters: 49
Poll closes: 28 Apr 2014 @ 13:00
Loading ...RESULTS: There are no results! But please do still go and vote in the final Group H match, which is ongoing until Friday.
It’s T-Pain vs Matt Bianco!
Is there an issue with the Soundcloud embed?
Okay — clearly Numerica is a man that mixes pleasure (the moto jacket), business (blazer), and his military (jacket) campaign, and does it very well. Certainly a track worth of the knockouts with quite a few interesting elements that contrast a bit with the club-pop I’m used to in the states and the world over, deployed well in my opinion. Excited in a few ways to see how the match plays out…
Gee, makossa via coup decale versus smooth, smooth grooves. I’m going to have to think about this one.
#2 arse, it looked like it was working. Let me check
I’ve added a YouTube, which has worse sound quality but is the same track. I’ll try and get the embed going.
fixed :)
both teams play with commitment and intelligence. Cameroon look the more robust at first with some well coordinated zonal play, There’s an impressive solo effort from the striker late on that nets a goal. Chile are equal to the challenge however with some gliding movement and deceptively effortless passing. A flash of brilliance from the guitar player late on sees an equaliser. Cameroon’s excessive use of auto tune earns Chile a late free kick. They shoot, they score, they win.
Relentless urban hedonism vs sun-kissed cosmopolitan cool. Both teams present a compelling argument, and this is close close close! Cameroon can score freely with growling vocals and hip-shaking rhythms. But hold on! Chile play an effective counter-attacking game, finding the back of the net with subtle horns and a ringing guitar solo. Special mention for their bass player filling in the gaps at the back.
Chile’s apparently effortless and smooth charm works wonders here: they’re in control. Cameroon put up a fight, not entirely ineffectively, but they seem to prefer set pieces against a team with a perfect command of a freer style, and there’s no way for them to break through. 3-1 to the Santiago boys.
The approach that Chile are taking has done very well for other teams this Pop World Cup but Cameroon are just so joyous. No contest for me.
Cameroon steam into the attack – this approach to offensive pop football has served them well so far this campaign and they’re not dropping it now. A couple of goals to the good, it looks like they’re cruising, but the energy levels start to drop and Chile have plenty of chances to counter.
Very shrewd tactics by the Chilean manager here, real (The) Cardigans for Goalposts stuff and likely to enthuse fans who aren’t buying into Cameroon’s full-on approach. Lots of variation in the play too, and the rapping substitute gets a goal with her first touch. (The jazzy one is a bit less effective). A very nervous finish for Cameroon – will they hold out? My vote says yes, but we shall see.
FIPFA’s first draft of their tactical analysis of the tournament is already identifying autotune as a feature of the play – but I’m afraid for me it’s an automatic yellow card. Despite invoking Samuel Eto’o, the Cameroon track is a bit heard-it-all-before and not that many of the team seem to be enjoying themselves. Chile really do play the beautiful game here with delightful vocals and a lovely guitar solo which rounds off one of the best displays in the PWC so far. Bravo!
And it’s CHILE who become our first quarter-finalist – they’ll play the winners of Japan/Uruguay, which will go up tomorrow.
It appears that jazzy lounge music is the formation to play this tournament. Can’t say I’m feeling most of it but the voting public can’t get enough of it. Cameroon have been a consistently enjoyable team and I’m sad to see them go.
Good news from us is that we’ve got none of that left — I can assure you that. Cameroon was a favorite in my book too, certainly set the bar for consistent high quality all through out the groups, especially the 3rd round, so I knew that if we were to match and overcome their stature here, we’d have to do it with a header, and indeed the gap between 22 and 27 seems like the centimeters between horse noses in a photo-finish. Cheers to them, and the voters. Against either Uruguay or Japan next, we’re hard-pressed to push the quality line higher anyway. Pressure’s on, more gravity.
Wow quite a shocker here – I really thought this tournament was going to be totally dominated by the West Africans & East Asians, is this the first sign of a major fightback by the South Americans? Certainly sad to see Cameroon go, they’ve been consistently great.