By now you should be familiar with the concept of the world cup of music, if not please click on this link where we explain the nitty gritty, followed by this one where we rounded up the first four days play. The contest, of course, moves on – today we round up the results so far and fill you on days 5 and 6 and fill you in on the results that are already in from the first two days of the tournament.
There’s also been a small change to voting – previously you were just asked to say it was a win for one team or another or to plump for a draw. Now you can suggest a score – 3-1 say to 2-2 or whatever. If you don’t specify which score is to which team we’ll assume it’s in order of how they played.
Results
Some results from the first round of matches are already in. They are as follows:
Day One:
Brazil (2) 2 Croatia (1) 2
Day Two:
Cameroon 1 Mexico 0
Netherlands 3 Spain 1
Chile 2 Australia 1
Interesting stuff – this tournament is wide open!
Voting is still open for days three through to six. Please get involved and tell us who you think won. The teams and tunes for days three and four can be found on THIS LINK.
We still need you to pick winners from matches featuring England, Italy, Côte d’Ivoire, Greece, Columbia, Japan, Uruguy and Costa Rica all from day three and Ecuador, Switzerland, France, Honduras, Argentina and Bosnia from day four – and we also need your votes for all the matches on days 5 and 6 below.
Remember you can vote via an email to IMOJP@zaphmann.com or tweet us on @worldcupofmusic.
So with no further ado…
Day Five
Six fascinating songs from today’s clashes of Iran vs Nigeria, Germany vs Portugal and Ghana vs USA. Which will you prefer? Vote with an email to IMOJP@zaphmann.com or tweet @worldcupofmusic.
First match and Iran win the toss in what promises to be a fascinating encounter. They kick off with Sound: The Encounter whose pipes are in great working order tonight it seems as they open with Dancing Song. Nigeria pull out all the stops though (or do they? you tell us) witch a known performer, Ibibio Sound Machine, one of last years all round favourites. An interesting contest, much closer than we were expecting – don’t forget to get your votes in, both teams need them!
Next match Germany vs Portugal. Germany, our commentator points out, are strong contenders on both world cup so let’s see how they kick off their campaign. There’s a surprise, despite the wealth of top notch electronic music coming atcha outta Germany they open with the gentle, ethereal stylings of Klangliebe. A confident start indeed. Portugal counter with Vircator’s Mindless Order – a great song there making this a much closer
USA vs Ghana next. America kick off the last match of day five. They may be low down the bookies odds for the football tourney but they’re deffo strong contenders for this contest having a strong history of performing well in the world of music – indeed they won it last year. One thing’s for sure though with America – you never know what team they’re going to field or how they’re going to play. With cards held close to the chest they kick off with the excellent Chicago Underground Duo. Despite what others say we think Ghana have the ability to pull off a surprise win here – and sure enough they come out of the blocks fighting with a cracking track by Adam Cadell.
Check out all the music and some expert commentary on the podcast below, then get voting with an email to IMOJP@zaphmann.com or tweet @worldcupofmusic.
Meanwhile, in the other world cup here’s how things panned out:
This day saw the big Group G clash between Germany and Portugal (also known as ‘Christiano Ronaldo’s Portugal’). As it turned out, arguably the world’s biggest star of the game was silenced by a splendid German team performance to win it 4-0. Hat-trick man Thomas Müller– at point of going to press– now sits atop the scoring chart. The dismissal of Pepe after a silly reaction to Müller’s over-reaction didn’t help the Portuguese, but no excuses. Up next was the first goalless draw of the tournament between Nigeria and Iran. It was also without doubt the cagiest, quality-lacking game so far. Finally, the day’s late kickoff match-up involved a decent clash between USA and Ghana. Clint Dempsey slotted home excellently with his left foot inside the first minute to give his side that thing we call a ‘dream start’. This was how this watchable encounter remained until late in the game, when Andre Ayew struck an equally sumptuous– and much deserved– left foot shot home to level things up for the Africans, before John Brooks came up for a corner to head down and in with four minutes on the clock. He didn’t read the script and so on.
Day Six
Last 2 first phase games sees Belgium, Algeria, Russia and South Korea take the stage and the second phase begins with Brazil upping the tempo against an even quicker Mexico…
Algeria win the toss in their encounter with Belgium and start with Lili Boniche. Some elegant play here leading people to wonder if they perhaps should’ve held this back for the later stages? Whatever, it’s done now. Belgium counter with The Imaginary Suitcase – a late entry for the team, The Imaginary Suitcase weren’t on the original sheet but some strong support from their fans meant they made the starting 11. And a strong performance they put in too – contender for match of the day this.
Russia vs South Korea next. Not much is known about the Russian entry, all we have is a stream of question marks ????????? followed by “[Lenningrad]“. Playing very much to form this Russian team have obviously seen the inside of a samovar before, they’re dancing all over the field and even end by applauding themselves. Our commentator confesses early on that the South Korean team are firm favourites of his but we implore you not to be swayed by his partisanship – listen to the tunes and see which way your heart tells you to go. Then get your votes in by emailing IMOJP@zaphmann.com or by tweeting him on @worldcupofmusic.
Now we’re into a second round of matches. Brazil weren’t happy, we hear, with the result of their first match, a fiercely contested 2-2, so they’re throwing everything they have at by bringing crowd favourite Karol Conká on. This is just what the tournament needed – a high tempo match with that has the crowd pinned to their seats. Mexico reply in kind with one of the most well known names in any of the teams taking part in world cup of music 2014 – Rodrigo Y Gabriela. Audacious stuff indeed – we’re expecting a close fought contest here for sure!
Make sure after you’ve listened to the podcast below that you get your votes in get your votes in by emailing IMOJP@zaphmann.com or by tweeting him on @worldcupofmusic. And don’t forget you don’t have to just pick one winner, you can suggest a score now too. 2-2 say of 3-1 or whatever.
Meanwhile, in the other world cup here’s how day six played out:
Another shock looked to be on the cards as a well-organised Algeria team held a penalty-scored lead over many people’s fancy to do well, Belgium. As the clock ticked deep into the second half Maroume Felliani was introduced, and almost immediately put his Man Utd form behind him to wonderfully get his head on the end of a cross from the left to head in to make the score 1-1. Belgium knew nothing but a win would do in such a fixture, and their dominance paid when a layoff to the edge of the box– catching Algeria on the break– found Dries Mertens, who swept in the winner in style with just ten minutes left. Hosts Brazil then took on a thus far impressive Mexican side, and were left frustrated, with only Neymar looking like scoring for the hosts. Mexico though must thank their goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa (who is currently looking for a club) for several one-handed saves. Brazil still appear a touch overawed, but the fact remains that this isn’t a vintage Brazil side and they have some work to do still. For Mexico, a position of strength in the table (also on four points from two games) is what they take out of it. The late game paired the last of the 32 teams to see some World Cup 2014 action, Russia and South Korea. Keun-Ho Lee opened the scoring– and livened up the contest– midway through the second period, before Aleksandr Kerzhakov poached home inside the six-yard area for Russia six minutes later. Russia probed for a winner at the end but were too pedestrian and a draw was a fair result.
Right – now it’s over to you! Get your votes sent over to our man Zaph Mann. A reminder that you can vote by dropping Zaph a line via email on IMOJP@zaphmann.com or tweet him on @worldcupofmusic with your picks.
For more details and to keep up to date on the podcasts, released on a day by day basis, head over to worldcupofmusic.wordpress.com or follow @worldcupofmusic on twitter. Alternatively just point your browser towards this url: imojp.podomatic.com where you’ll find all the podcasts.
All words by Guy Manchester, Zaph Mann and Phillip Neeson. You can find the post where we introduce the concept of the World Cup of Music here.
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