ZVEN-SATIONAL ENGLAND BREAK SWEDISH HEARTS

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Pop World Cup - Group B Report

It's England v Germany in the last 16 as zenith's men forced their way out of the group stage with a gritty victory over Sweden. The shocking success of Trinidad and Tobago had left England and Sweden with everything to play for in this final group game. A draw would have sent Sweden through, and the tie was deadlocked for long periods but England's slow build up ultimately paid off. Sweden's team had plenty of prior tournament experience but some critics back home have suggested this had led to complacency - their young manager the_roofdog will be downcast tonight. The result leaves zenith with plenty of ammunition against those commentators who suggested that England's game was drab and anti-pop, though with a very tricky tie against Germany to look forward to he won't be resting on his laurels yet.


Sweden fans' joy turns to despair

In the other group B match Trinidad and Tobago brushed aside Paraguay to emerge as group winners and set up an intriguing game against Ecuador, which the Caribbean team must be approaching as favourites. jel_bugle has been effusive about the wealth of options at Trinidad's disposal and his confidence has not been misplaced so far. Paraguay gave a good account of themselves in all their games but a place in the last 16 always looked beyond them.

Full Results

Trinidad and Tobago - 156 points (QUALIFY AS WINNERS)
England - 127 points (QUALIFY)
Sweden - 119 points
Paraguay - 100 points

Comments

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

the_roofdog must be sick as a parrot. But he showed inexperience... with such a wealth of pop options available to him, he decided to give one of the untried youngsters a go in the group game, and it backfired. I bet he's regretting not going with Ace of Base for the group game!

[the-roofdog.livejournal.com]

Untried youngsters??? They're one of the giants of Swedish pop! I was hardly going to go for ABBA, was I ? By the looks of things, I should clearly have gone for ROXETTE.

This has all left me a broken shell of a man, by the way.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I have to say that the fate of Poland and now Sweden has me a bit worried - however I'm going to stick to my game plan, possibly deploying a Euro-rapper in a free role behind the front two.

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

I am shocked by this result too! It will definitely influence further thinking. (This possibly unfair, but such is the way of orgafun).

(Actually I have pretty much sorted my gameplan now, but if I HADN'T).

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

Oh but as every football tactician knows -- it's not about the style of play you choose, it's how committed you are to it, and how well you execute it!

(ie deploying an eurorapper sounds like the good idea)